Peace In Our Time
by PsychicDynamite
Summary: Spoilers for Civil War! Pietro Maximoff walked it off. A low-key string of one-shots, peeking into the lives of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, both new and old. Mostly feelings, with hints of Scarlet Vision. I update as I think of these. Taking requests!
1. A Breather

**A/N: Enjoy!**

The sun shone down onto the well-trimmed lawn as Wanda went to take a break. She sat down and took a sip from her water bottle, observing the field. As usual, Sam Wilson and James Rhodes (referred to as Rhodey, which was still odd in her opinion, as he was very much her superior) were still sparring, while casually spitting out banter every now and then, and Natasha and The Vision were both taking a breather as well. Pietro was unfortunately still bed-ridden under Dr. Cho's orders, as his wounds could have definitely been fatal. It was a miracle he came out of the fight with Ultron alive. Wanda let her head hang down, smiling and thanking whoever was out there listening for that.

"Mind if I join you?"

She looked up to see the Captain himself, Steve Rogers, slightly panting after a good training session.

"Sure," she responded.

Steve nodded his thanks and sat down next to her, taking a healthy chug from his water bottle.

The two sat in not an uncomfortable silence, observing the rest of the team.

"You know, we're a lot a like, you and I," Steve suddenly said. "And your brother," he tagged on.

Wanda, confused, glanced over at the super soldier. She allowed something between a scoff and a chuckle pass her lips. "Please, Captain, I do not see where you are coming from. We couldn't be more different."

Steve merely shook his head, a half smile gracing his face. "Well, I guess I can be confident you aren't as nosy as Stark."

She held her gaze, staring at him in confusion.

"Our countries were both fighting a war. And all we wanted to do was help."

He took a pause before continuing.

"Before I was administered the serum, I was…unbelievably plucky, for a guy my build." He breathed out a short laugh. "95 lbs at 5' 4", I tried to enlist in the army 5 times."

Wanda took a brief moment to try to imagine Captain America, the leader of the Avengers, a scrawny kid almost a foot shorter with almost no muscle mass. It was a stretch of imagination, even for her.

"Of course, the reason I was turned down was because of my health conditions, mainly my asthma."

Ok, she'd definitely try to grab the file on Steven Rogers when she could.

"Why?" she asked, mystified. He was merely a child, and would have barely passed basic training. He would have died so quickly. "Why fight?"

Steve turned his head to meet her gaze. "The same reason you and your brother volunteered for Strucker. Your country was at war, and you wanted to help."

Wanda lowered her gaze. She realized there was more to the Captain than the red, white, and blue, but she never realized how much she didn't know, nor their similarities. The differences, for her, were too outstanding.

"So, sixth time being the lucky charm, I was enlisted 1A, and administered the serum. With that, I helped win the war…" Steve returned his gaze to the ground, briefly letting the memories of him piloting Red Skull's ship into the ice, and hearing Peggy's voice over the intercom.

But he lifted his chin up and took a moment to look at the bright, beautiful blue sky, sunshine and all. It wasn't the day to be mournful. There would be those days, in time. Just not today.

"The two of you pretty much intended the same thing. I'm just sorry you were disappointed."

She pondered on that. The whole time she and her brother always thought they were doing the right thing. Fighting against their oppressors, making them pay for what they did. Trying to make them see, to make them feel their pain. But since the Avengers, their foundations were all but destroyed. Which, she decided, wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"I'm sorry too, I suppose," she spoke up after a moment of silence. "Pietro and I were so confident in what we were fighting for, it felt good to be dependent on something, after…an incident like ours."

She took a breath, pushing back the thought of their family.

"But I would not regret the path I am on now. Of course, there are others…but this…this is the best for all of us."

Wanda scanned the field again, looking at her new teammates, and smiled. What she and her brother had depended on was an idea that almost consumed the two of them. Now, there was something else the two of them could lean on. Real support…a team, with a goal…a family.

She looked back to Steve. "Thank you."

He grinned and nodded. "Don't mention it."

He stood and stretched his arms a bit. "And, y'know, you fight well too." With that, he returned to the rest of the team.

Wanda grinned, and watched as he walked away. Yes…it felt good to have a family again.

 **Somethin' short and sweet. I love that Cap sympathizes with the twins.**


	2. Pancakes

**A/N: Enjoy!**

 _Italicized is Sokovian._

Wanda slowly blinked her eyes open, feeling her consciousness floating awake, like rising out of dark water. She got up and briefly stretched. Looking out the window, she was greeted with the sun's first rays peaking out over the horizon.

It had only been a week since the defeat of Ultron, the clean up, and making sure her people were safe. And they were. For now, the Sokovian government would be figuring out what to do with the giant crater and the rest of the town. She'd definitely miss it though, even if her home had literally been torn in half and buried under rubble.

She looked over at Pietro's bed. He was sprawled out on his twin-sized bed, barely fitting on it. His blankets were all over the place, but lucky for him, his pillow was still where it should have been. Sometimes it wasn't, and he'd always complain of a sore neck the next day.

A brief yawn slipping out, Wanda got out of her bed and headed over to her brother's.

" _Pietro_ ," she murmured as she gently shook him. " _Pietro, wake up. It's morning_."

Her silver-haired brother groaned a muffled complaint and turned his head away from her.

" _C'mon, Pietro, stop being so lazy_."

More incoherent grumbling.

Wanda let out a half-sigh half-groan, but smiling all the same. Typical. They save the world, and yet PIetro's sleep schedule is hopeless to be saved.

" _Alright, but don't complain if Thor eats all the chocolate chipped pancakes first_ ," she teased.

That got his attention. A bit.

Pietro grunted in surprise and turned his head to her, eyes barely slit open. " _Give me…five minutes…_ " But no sooner had the words left his mouth before he fell back onto his pillow and to sleep.

Wanda rolled her eyes and stood up straight. He'd wake up soon enough, she was sure of it.

She used her telekinesis to make her bed, then grabbed a comfy jacket and headed down to the kitchen.

* * *

For now, all of the Avengers were residing in the Avengers Tower. Despite Tony Stark now having quit the team, the new facility upstate wasn't completely finished in terms of construction. So, Mr. Stark graciously offered the Avengers Tower. Which wasn't really a call for him specifically to make, since it was the _Avengers_ Tower, and not Stark Tower. But she wouldn't have argued. It was a place to stay, with a roof over their heads, and food available to them.

Turning the corner to get to the kitchen, Wanda assumed her to be completely alone, since she wasn't aware of anyone who woke up this early. But she was wrong in her assumption, as there was already someone in it, brewing coffee.

Maria Hill looked up from the coffee machine, and greeted her with a little shock. "Hey, good morning."

"Good morning," Wanda replied, blinking in surprise.

"Coffee?" Maria offered.

Wanda nodded, appreciating the offer. "Thank you."

The former SHIELD agent, or not so former, smiled in response, grabbing another mug.

Silence occupied the room, only broken by the sound of the coffee being made. Wanda made her way over closer to the cabinet, where she knew she'd find the ingredients to make pancakes.

"Are you usually up this early?" Maria asked, filling the silence.

"Yes," the telekinetic replied. "It's a bit of a habit now, ever since…" The team was aware of what had happened to her, Pietro, and their family. And what struck after.

The agent nodded in response. "What about your brother? The two of you are practically inseparable."

Wanda smiled and directed her eyes to the rising sun. "Pietro would always sleep in until I woke him. He would probably sleep for hours and hours past the normal time if it weren't for me. Now that he can afford it, nothing can wake him. His schedule for sleep has long been destroyed."

Maria breathed out a laugh and smiled. "Yeah, I can understand that. Stark isn't all that spectacular with his sleep either. He just sleeps whenever he wants, wherever he wants. And I really do mean whenever he wants, because sometimes he ignores it when he needs it. Which usually bites him back in the butt later."

The two ladies shared a laugh, pleasantly accompanying the brewing coffee.

A minute or two later, the coffee was done, and Maria poured two mugs accordingly. Wanda thanked her and blew on the hot drink before taking a sip. The warmth seeped through her entire body, and she felt more awake.

She took a moment to marvel at the scene before her. Herself, after disallowing herself from getting closer to anyone but Pietro, enjoying a mug of coffee made by one of SHIELD's best former agents, along with a beautiful sunrise in the Avengers Tower. She would have never, in a thousand years, imagined anything close to this happening back in Sokovia. But she was glad to experience it now.

After taking a few more sips, Wanda put her mug down and psychically pulled out the ingredients for what she came to make.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "Pancakes?"

Wanda smiled. "Pietro's favorite, so far it seems. It reminds him a bit of the food we had when we were younger."

Maria smiled as she observed Wanda proceed to put the pancake mix and milk into a bowl to whisk. After reading her profile, and her brother's, from the perspective of an opposing force, she had been critical of their strengths, weaknesses, and traits. She never even thought of what they would be like at 5:00 in the morning, making pancakes. She guessed she'd have to reevaluate.

"Here, lemme help you." The agent grabbed some more pancake mix along with chocolate chips and berries. "If you're gonna be making pancakes in this Tower, you're gonna need a lot more."

Wanda smiled and nodded her thanks. With that, the two spent the next half hour mixing a hell of a lotta pancake mix, and went to cooking.

* * *

Right as the first glob of batter hit the pan, wonderful, warm smells of food started to waft through the Tower. And like flies to honey, the Avengers started to crawl out of their caves.

As Wanda placed the first few pancakes on a plate, she looked up to see The Vision, softly walking his way over to the kitchen.

"Good morning," she greeted with a small smile.

"And good morning to you as well. I couldn't help but notice the delicious scent, so I decided to come and see what the source was."

Wanda motioned to the pancakes. "Be our guest to try."

Vision sat at a nearby table as Wanda brought the pancakes over, a fork and knife telekinetically following her.

"And make sure to have room for more, there'll be tons coming," Maria assured, stacking more pancakes onto another clean plate.

The android smiled his thanks to the two ladies, graciously accepting the silverware, and the syrup, which had followed the silverware out from the cabinet.

Wanda let out a light "enjoy" before joining Maria in producing more delicious pancakes.

* * *

Shortly after Vision had arrived, more footsteps announced the arrival of more Avengers.

Maria looked up from her skillet. "Morning," she called out.

Three sleepy "g'mornings" replied as Steve, Nat, and Clint all observed the scene spread out before them. Wanda and Maria making pancakes, and the Vision enjoying them.

"Yo, this is what a wake-up call should be. Where's my plate?" Clint mused.

"Take a seat, and you'll get one," Maria chaffed as she put down two full plates of pancakes, one regular and one chocolate chipped.

Practically drooling, Clint hurriedly took a seat. Wanda sent out his plate, along with two more for the Captain and Natasha, amused by the archer's hunger.

"Thanks for the breakfast, you two," Steve called over the sizzling skillets, honestly delighted for such a great meal after Sokovia.

Clint also let out his thanks, muffled due to his cheeks stuffed with pancakes, as his plate already had seven stacked on it.

"A+ for table manners, Clint," Natasha teased.

Clint cleared his mouth to stick his tongue out at her before stuffing them again.

* * *

The table got two more occupants when Sam and Rhodey walked into the kitchen, having pleasantly awoken to the smells of breakfast.

"Alright, bon appetite," Sam stated, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

"This is one helluva wake-up call," Rhodey smirked as the two took seats.

Clint, still stuffing his face, pointed his fork at him and nodded, agreeing.

"Have at it," Maria said, coming around with the plates, forks, and knives.

"Yes, ma'am," Sam replied, grabbing what he could nearest him.

Once Maria returned to her skillet, Wanda smiled. "It was a good idea to make so much batter."

Maria nodded in agreement, "Yeah, and we haven't even had the big eater arrive."

Wanda realized this and started to speed up production in reaction, noticing how the guys already began to wolf at what was available to them.

* * *

As the vibe was getting happy and comfortable at the table and kitchen, a booming voice cried out, "Truly a wonderful aroma to awaken to! And to see such a glorious feast lain out to be the cause of it, I am delighted. And well deserved also!"

"Good morning to you too, Thor," Maria lightly quipped as she set down a plate and silverware.

"Excellent, my thanks to you," Thor grinned, piling pancakes onto his plate.

As he began to scarf it all down, Wanda's eyebrows rose. "I knew he ate much, but this would definitely give Pietro a run for his money."

Maria laughed, "Yeah, you should see how much Pop-tart he asks for. It's actually ridiculous."

The telekinetic chuckled. "I can only imagine."

* * *

After a near crisis of pancakes running out, thanks to Thor's and Clint's huge morning appetites, followed in close second by Sam's, a tired eyed Avenger joined the table.

"I did not give you two access to the kitchen, but I will accept apologies in the form of breakfast," Tony declared.

"I thought the Tower said 'Avengers Tower', not 'Stark Tower'. So, technically, this is all our kitchen," Wanda wittily replied, bringing another full plate of pancakes for everyone.

A wave of "ooh" rushed through the table.

Tony just let out a huff, feigning irritation. "Alright, Bright Eyes, I'll let this slide for now, but don't think I won't remember this." He narrowed his eyes teasingly.

Wanda let a grin slip onto her lips as she psychically grabbed a plate, fork, knife, and a cup (because Sam had asked for milk, and everyone agreed that that was a good idea) before returning to the kitchen to flip the final pancakes.

* * *

By now, the batter had been exhausted, so Wanda and Maria had joined the rest of the Avengers at the table to eat and chat, reminiscing about favorite shows, music, and stories.

A sudden _whoosh_ made a few turn their heads to see Pietro standing in front of the table, bedhead and all.

He stared around in disbelief, seeing that the available pancake count was a flat zero, as most were either working on or finished with their meal. The hungry Avenger looked to his sister, eyes wide in disbelief, hands silently questioning where his portion was.

Wanda just stared at her brother, shrugging. "I told you, you'd miss the pancakes."

After it was clear Pietro's disbelief and hunger was keeping him quiet, Wanda let out a grin and telekinetically pulled out a hidden plate of chocolate chip pancakes, followed by a fork, knife, and a cup.

Pietro followed her line of sight to see his saving grace, and his demeanor relaxed. When the plate bopped him on the forehead, he let out a little "hey!" and pouted at his sister, who laughed, as did a few others.

The zippy teen quickly sat down at the remaining chair and immediately began pouring syrup.

" _Thanks_ ," he let out before shoving a pancake into his mouth, not bothering to cut it.

Wanda smiled and watched her brother eat, smiling even wider when Sam marveled how Pietro actually fit an entire pancake into his mouth.

She subtly surveyed the table she was sitting at. A team of superheroes, chatting, laughing, and jesting while eating pancakes. A team of people who normally wouldn't have fit together so well. But they all had one goal in common, and they were willing to give themselves for it. And so was she.

The enhanced teen smiled. No, she would have never guessed that she'd be sitting at this table, enjoying pancakes on a sunny morning. But she was, and she was glad for it.

 **A/N: If you guys have any little requests, I'll be happy to take them!**


	3. Files

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks so much to everyone who's favorited and followed this! I'm eternally thankful you did, and I hope I live up to your expectations! An extra thank you to those who took the time to review. They mean the world to me.**

 **This is a sort of follow up fic to the first chapter, 'Breather'. I just thought it'd be a cute, mellow piece to write up, so I did.**

 **There are more ideas circulating through my head, so hopefully I'll have a chance to write them down and upload them! But until then, enjoy!**

* * *

 _Italics in speech = Sokovian_

It had definitely been a hard day's worth of training. But Wanda felt good from it. She felt it, the bond between the seven of them growing. It felt good…great even. It had been a long, _long_ time since she felt, allowed her to feel really, anything close to this. The closest thing she could have thought of was her bond with Pietro, but that was something special. She knew it, he knew it. It was something comfortable.

They still had an hour before dinner was to be served, but Sam was feeling a little rebellious that night.

"Let's order a pizza or something, screw this facility food!" he blurted, feeling the need for some familiar, comforting, and good food. Something they all deserved.

"Ooh, wings too. Lots of wings," Natasha pitched in.

"How are we going to pay for this again?" Steve asked warily, the sound of pizza very tempting however.

"Pssh, the facility probably has something. Or just put it on Tony's tab or something," Rhodey answered. "I could go for some chicken and beer."

"You have his card?" Steve countered.

Rhodey replied by swiftly pulling out a credit card plastered with the grand 'Stark Industries' logo from his wallet nearby and flashing it to the captain.

Steve accredited Rhodey's resourcefulness with a solid nod. "Pizza and wings it is."

Sam let out a whoop, obviously getting tired of the cafeteria food.

Wanda glanced at Pietro, eager to have something that would spice up their dull diet at the New Avengers facility.

Sam and Natasha hogged the phone to place the order, which, due to the massive size and the far-off location of the facility, was going to take over an hour. Bummed, but still willing to wait, everyone got relaxed and comfortably chatted.

Feeling a little introversion seeping in, Wanda decided to quietly leave the lounge they were in, claiming she needed to use the restroom. She was definitely glad for their closeness, but sometimes she needed a moment to herself.

Letting her mind take her anywhere, she thought of the recent memories she had made in the facility. There were surprisingly quite a few. None left a bad taste in her mouth, so that was a plus. There were plenty of those memories from Sokovia, thanks to the internal turmoil. She sighed, saddened at the state of ruin her country and people were in.

She pushed herself back to the present and found herself in a hallway, with all but one door closed shut. The one door was cracked open, as if someone had forgotten to close it all the way, and a draft had pried it open.

Curious but cautious, she telekinetically opened it and peered in the room. The first thing that hit her was the odor of the dark room. It was musty, compared to the chic, modern building which was kept spotless. There was even dust accumulating on top of the rows of cabinets in the room. This room was definitely the most ignored out of all in the facility. She sneezed before entering, her opening the door causing dust to drift into the air.

Walking in, she closely examined the rows and rows of cabinets. They held box-like drawers, and all labeled with a name. She tried to recognize one of the hundreds, but none were familiar. Until she was a few rows down.

Backtracking, the Avenger read and reread the name label on the drawer.

'Steven Rogers'

 _The Captain?_ She thought curiously.

She slowly slid the drawer out with her mind, to find it packed with manila folders, all tied up neatly and tucked in place.

Wanda physically took out a random folder, practically feeling the history the material held in it. She unwound the strap that kept it all together and opened its contents. Inside were full reports of what seemed to be a mission during the Second World War. She scanned the reports with some interest, but as she perused the documents, smaller cards slipped out into her hand. She inspected them and saw Captain Rogers with other men in gear, both planning strategy for their mission and in action. She was intrigued. The telekinetic knew he was a heavy leader figure in the war, but she never knew to what extent. It was pleasant in a way to see his history, even if it was a bit invasive, the way she stumbled onto it. She sat down to take a better look at the papers.

She had just finished looking at the third file she pulled when she heard a distinctive _whoosh_ , and saw dust particles swirling in the air.

" _Wanda! There you are,_ " Pietro let out, obviously relieved. " _You were gone for a while, I was wondering where you went…_ "

Reflecting back on it, the younger twin suddenly realized she had been gone far longer than it was appropriate to escape to the restroom.

" _Sorry, Pietro. I didn't mean to startle you,_ " she explained. " _I just needed some time_ …"

The speedster nodded, understanding what his sister meant. " _What is this place?_ " he asked, changing the subject. " _And why is it so dusty?_ " He sneezed as if to emphasize his question.

" _I think it's where a lot of the paper files of distinctive people are kept in the facility,_ " Wanda explained, although not really having much information to go on, as she only found Steve's name that she recognized.

Pietro then peered over her shoulder to see what she had in her lap. Taking a second look at the pictures, he asked, " _Is that…the Captain?_ "

" _Yes!_ " she exclaimed, excited to show her twin, although feeling a bit silly about it. " _Here, look at these!"_

She handed him the folders and he sifted through them, taking a moment or two to study the pictures. " _Wow…he actually was…Captain America._ "

" _I know, and look at what he did here…_ " she went on to point out the interesting bits she found while looking through the files.

" _You know, you could have the computers grab these for you from the system. Wasn't all of SHIELD dropped onto the Internet?_ " Pietro pointed out.

Wanda hummed in agreement. " _I guess, but it feels kind of nice looking at physical copies of these_."

He gave a subtle nod in agreement, and Wanda went back to showing what she had found of the leader of the Avengers.

After she had exhausted all the information she had found in showing her brother, the twins pulled more files out to look through, finding a deeper connection between their heroic leader and themselves. In the back of her mind, Wanda thought of the brief breather she had with Steve. They really weren't all that different. Similar, in fact.

A little more than two-thirds through, Pietro pulled out a particularly worn out folder. Opening it, his brow scrunched in confusion.

" _Who…is this?_ " he asked, going back to a proper sitting position and showing a picture to his sister.

The brunette took a second to examine the picture, also very confused. Then, her conversation with the Captain bubbled up in her memory again.

" _That…that's Captain Rogers…_ " she explained, the feeling of saying that odd, but true.

The picture was of a younger man, boy really, scrawny, and struggling to do what seemed like a basic military exercise, compared to the men around him. But the way the hair fell, and the face, it all matched up. It was Steven Rogers.

" _What? No that's not possible_ ," Pietro immediately rejected.

" _No, remember, the Captain was created to be what he was today…the serum…_ " she went on, now positive of her explanation. Plus, she was sure the facility was thorough, paper or electronic filing. " _Plus, Steve and I actually had a conversation during training, while you were still resting._ "

The older twin glanced at her, still skeptical, but also taking note of the name change.

" _He told me that, he used to be very different. The Captain was almost a foot shorter than he is now, shorter than me actually, too skinny, and riddled with disease…_ " Wanda described while shuffling through the papers the file held. She then found a card that had Steve's approval to join the army, along with all his physical details. Looking at the list of ailments, she was certainly surprised he was admitted at all. But, as if to make a point, five more cards, similar to the one of the Captain's approval, slid out of the folder, all revealing that he failed the examination, and all claiming he was from five different cities.

Looking over her shoulder, Pietro only became more bewildered, and his face showing it. How could five different recruitment offices really not noticed him sooner? Was it really common that a single person had _that_ many diseases?

Both twins sat where they were, amazed at Steve's persistence to, what seemed to them, go to the war and die. It was both an absurd level of bravery and insanity. They loved it.

Pietro took the rest of the folder to look through. " _It says that he completed basic training, and…proceeded to be injected…"_

Wanda turned to the drawer and took out the folder right after the one Pietro took out. Opening it, she found a picture of the familiar Captain America everyone knew right at the beginning. The documents that accompanied it told of the experiment's success, and the infiltration of a HYDRA agent.

" _And…he succeeded._ "

The brother and sister sat there, each to their own thoughts, but both reveling at the journey of Steve Rogers. Even if Wanda had gotten it straight from Steve's mouth, she really had to see it to believe what he had said, about his condition before the serum. And now she had. Not only was his story confirmed, but her faith in Steve as a leader, partner, and fellow Avenger was strengthened.

Pietro, in examining all the information, started to understand Captain Rogers' high moral compass and noble personality. It wasn't all just an act, which he initially thought, having only really known the Captain briefly after the events in Sokovia, but it was all him. He found himself relating to Steve, and reaffirming his trust in him.

The two glanced at each other, and saw that they were both thinking the same. There had been so much more to the Captain, and they had found it. And now that they had, they knew they had made the right choice. To leave their homeland and to come to the foreign futuristic city, to be Avengers. But to be in a team, where they were all connected with a single goal, to protect those who need it.

Pietro looked back to the photo of pre-serum Steve and chuckled. " _He was ridiculously skinny_ ," he remarked.

Wanda grinned and let out a laugh as well. " _He was. It was a miracle he survived._ "

Coming out of their introspective moment, Wanda continued to inspect the rest of the folders of Steve Rogers. After they were all looked into, she decided to see if there were any folders on 'Margaret Carter', as her name did pop up a lot in the documents. Pietro gave a hand using his superspeed, which had definitely made the searching process faster. When he returned, he was actually carrying two drawers.

" _This one has Colonel Rhodey's name on it_ ," he explained, curious about the seemingly normal Avenger. The most normal out of the seven of them anyway.

They continued to spend their time glancing into the pasts of their fellow partners in crime fighting, both showing points of interest they found.

It was quite some time later when Pietro let out a gigantic yawn, which led to Wanda mirroring it.

" _What time is it?_ " she asked, suddenly feeling fatigue hit her.

" _No idea…_ " her brother replied, but right as the words left his mouth, his stomach grumbled rather loudly. She laughed.

" _I guess we accidentally skipped dinner_ ," she said, although not surprised no one else had tried to find them. By now, everyone had established the fact that the twins always committed some time of the day to just wander with each other, reveling at their new life.

" _Oh, damn, let's go eat then. They ordered pizza and wings…hope there're some left,_ " the bleach blonde remembered while heaving himself off the floor, although it was almost a chore trying not to step on the papers and pictures that were all spread out around them.

" _Yeah, let's hurry_ ," Wanda said while also getting up. Using her powers, she rearranged all the papers, and Pietro speedily put every file in their appropriate drawer. Then he zoomed off to put the drawers back, and then met his sister at the door so the two could briskly walk to the kitchen.

* * *

Arriving at the kitchen, they realized exactly how much time they had spent in the dusty room. When they had left, the sun was still out, although painting the skies red while it set. Now, the skies were completely black, stars distantly twinkling away, and the trees blending into the horizon.

But when they got to the kitchen, they found that it wasn't empty. Rhodey was actually there, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

"Hey, there you guys are. We were actually starting to get a little worried," he chuckled, glad to see his teammates. "The rest of us actually are in Steve's room. Dunno how we got there, but we did. The rest of the food is waiting for you two though. Some drinks too, and a great vibe. Steve's music collection is killer."

Pietro gave an obviously relieved grin to Wanda before nodding to Rhodey. "Great, we're starving."

 **A/N: Thanks again. And as always, I'm open to requests.**


	4. Coping

**A/N: Man, I've been cranking these out one after another. Usually it'd take me a while to not harp on a single idea. Maybe all I needed was to publish them, haha.**

 **I've actually been mulling this one for quite some time, I think right after I saw Age of Ultron for a second time (I've seen it three times, and I'd gladly see it a fourth!). I like the idea of there being more than a creator-creation relationship between these two, plus, I'm really _really_ gonna miss JARVIS. T_T**

 **As for Edwin Jarvis, I've been thinking of their relationship ever since Agent Carter. Like, c'mon, Jarvis definitely raised Tony more than Howard did, you can't convince me otherwise.**

 **But tell me what you think! Enjoy!**

* * *

Tony entered his lab, fluorescent lights flickering on as he did. All his stuff for tinkering, mostly upgrades to his suits, which he only had five of at the moment, were lain out before him, on tables, the floor, and some stuff popping out of a bookshelf. It was a comforting sight.

A couple weeks have passed since the completion of the New Avengers Facility, remodeled out of a private air base (which Tony bought of course) that was safely tucked away in a quiet field far from the city that never sleeps. Which was ideal, considering the residents of the building. Tony and Pepper actually had a big part in designing the building, so he was proud of that.

Now, the genius had actually gone back to the Avengers Tower, since his mansion in Malibu had been wrecked and he had retired from being an active superhero. But that didn't mean he wasn't still being awesome.

Sitting himself down in front of his newest project, the quiet in his lab irked him.

"Hey, J, turn on my music, will you?" he asked the open air as he got to work, expecting a British "Yes, Mr. Stark" and AC/DC promptly blaring from his speakers.

But instead, he received an eerie silence, one that reminded him of recent events. He paused in his tinkering and straightened himself up.

He had wanted this. _He_ had been the whole point to what he was trying to get at in the first place. So Tony could have a life, build something more with Pepper, and just take a break from facing constant instability and violence in the world. He knew he was being selfish, and he knew that was what he had signed up for, but it had been incredibly draining nonetheless.

The billionaire didn't regret creating the Vision. Not one bit. It (he?) had allowed him to be where he is now, instead of working under Fury and being an icon for the world. That was his whole point. He got what he originally tried to get with Ultron, sort of. Plus, his removal from the team was probably for the better, as it was his actions in creating the alien AI that got the glow-stick of destiny taken (again) and almost gotten the world destroyed (again). But he felt like he wasn't ever going to get used to JARVIS' absence. Really, the whole reason for the creation of the AI system was so that Tony could still _have_ Jarvis, even after his death. He sighed, thinking of his dad's chamberlain. God, he missed him.

The loud silence bringing him back to the present, Tony apologized. "Sorry, FRIDAY…I just…y'know."

The female AI chimed in. "It's alright, boss." Her Irish brogue was soothing in his opinion, but it'd never be the same. Nothing would be the same, anymore.

His usual playlist came on, and Tony jerked himself into his work, allowing his thoughts to turn off as he focused on his work.

* * *

Tony woke up late on a Sunday morning, blinking rapidly to adjust to the bright sunlight. Heaving himself from his comfy bed, the former playboy sighed and stretched a bit, noting the empty half of the bed. Of course Pepper would already be up. She was never one to waste a day away. Unlike him.

Stomach rumbling, he decided to go down to the kitchen and get some late breakfast.

After eating and lazing about for a couple hours, Tony decided to get dressed as low-key as he physically could and hop into one of his less conspicuous cars. The license plate still proudly bore the name 'STARK8', so he was going to be relying heavily on luck to get through the day unnoticed.

Starting the car, he made a mental note to drive by a flower shop before heading to his destination in Brooklyn.

* * *

This wasn't a place where he visited often. In fact, he had only visited this place four times including today, from what he could remember. He probably should have visited more than that, but at the time, his life had been a happy whirlwind in his mind.

Parking his car, he got out, grabbing the flowers as he did. Walking between various headstones, he approached a pair of modest ones, which read:

 _Edwin Jarvis_

 _1913 – 1993_

 _A faithful and loving husband, butler, and friend_

 _Anna Jarvis_

 _1914 – 1992_

 _A kind, strong young woman who befriended nearly all_

Bending down, he put the flowers in between the two graves, awkwardly realizing at the moment that he probably should have bought two bouquets. After all, Anna Jarvis had been as much as a mother figure as Edwin Jarvis had been a father figure.

"Hey, uh, Jarvis," Tony greeted in a low voice. "Sorry I haven't been visiting as much. Kinda took up the suit and, well…saved the world a couple of times."

The claimed philanthropist stood back up and gazed on the two headstones as a pleasant breeze ruffled his hair, letting his mouth ramble on whatever his mind thought of.

"It's a little different now," he continued. "I feel like I need sort of a break. And, I created an android that'll probably keep the whole team together too, for a while at least. Just enough time for me to…get my bearings.

"The team's a little different now. The God of Thunder flew off back to his part of the universe in Asgard. Something about making sure his kingdom is safe, which I guess is kinda important. Cap, er, Steve's still there, bein' the American Dream and leading them on. Bet you'd enjoy seeing him, after how much Dad used to ramble on about the guy…" He gave a moment to himself.

"Natasha Romanoff is there too, being all dutiful to Fury, who I originally thought was dead, but isn't. Surprise, surprise. SHIELD is still down though, so I'm pretty sure he's just going to keep on the DL at the New Avengers Facility. Oh yeah, forgot to tell ya, there's that. The new team's all there now, which'll be nice and convenient for everyone.

"Oh, interestingly enough, Rhodey's kinda taken my place in the suit. Him as War Machine of course." He chuckled, satisfied with the name change. It _was_ better. "He won't have my charming personality, but he'll do justice, I know it.

"One of Steve's buddies is there too, I think his name's Sam, with a super cool falcon suit. Oh, man you should've seen it. Shame I didn't get a chance to take a peek. Would've loved to play with that…" Tony let his mind wander a bit, thinking of ways on how to get his hands on it for a day or two. It seemed unlikely now, but he'd find a way to get it.

"Then there're a pair of enhanced twins. One's a ridiculously fast runner, the other a telekinetic. They're cool. We kinda rescued them from Ultron's warped mind and control, so that's neat. Oh, right, Ultron. I'll get back to him.

"Clint's actually gone back to his little farmhouse. With a wife and kids; who knew? I'll expand more on that a bit later.

"Bruce…we have no idea where he is." The mechanic sighed, letting his shoulders sag, as if to show the weight he was carrying. "Last we saw, he was the Other Guy in a quinjet, headed for nowhere. We have a rough estimate of where he is, but honestly, I have no idea if we're gonna find him. I don't even know if I want to. I mean, I want to!" Woah, that came out wrong. "But the guy usually is picky about his private time and…" Tony heaved out another sigh. "Yeah, yeah, never mind. I do want him back…miss the guy. Genius always has a downside though."

He paused and looked away into the blue sky, making a mental note to keep on searching for his fellow science brother with FRIDAY.

"I'll find him though. It's just a matter of when," he reassured himself.

"Oh, also, funny thing happened. So, actually, the seventh member is fairly new to…the world really. I actually helped create him, along with Dr. Banner. I think he's called the Vision now. That's what Thor said." He went on to explain the creation process of the android, and how JARVIS had been downloaded into him in order to help defeat Ultron. Because JARVIS had been with them through and through, even if he was deemed 'killed' by Ultron.

Then Tony rambled on about Ultron, who had been the world's newest threat, how the old team had fought him off, and the formation of the new team.

"So, yeah, now it's…quiet actually. Dunno if I appreciate it quite yet." He let half a smile slip onto his face, remembering how the butler had usually dedicated an hour in the evening to wind down and relax, whereas Tony had been making noise non-stop, whether it was his music, his engineering and inventing, or just arguing with himself over little things. He had hated silence.

"Just wanted to visit today…since it's gotten kinda lonely, back at the Tower…" he let out what was the umpteenth sigh of the day. But he never actually thought that he wouldn't be without JARVIS. The only time that had really been reality was the period after Jarvis' death and the creation of the AI system. Then, Tony had his grief to spur him on, to fill the loneliness. Now, it was a little more difficult.

He gave himself a few more moments to ponder and spit out anything else he wanted to say to his deceased guardian, but after a while, he heard his phone go off. Checking it, he found Pepper's name on the caller ID.

"Well, gotta go. Unfortunately the world continues on without me, no matter how rude that is." He smiled, thinking of how he would have been reprimanded at his arrogance. "See you later, Jarvis," he almost whispered before turning around and walking back to his car, picking up the phone as he did.

* * *

Keeping on track with avoiding his life responsibilities, Tony decided to drive over to the New Avengers Facility after a day of doing practically nothing. He had acknowledged that this was for a purely selfish reason, and that he had already said his good-byes and stuff, but after visiting Edwin Jarvis' grave, he just _needed_ to hear him again. Even if it was his AI's voice, and not Jarvis'.

Dusk slowly approaching, he pulled up to the facility and got out of his car. Every part of his brain was yelling at him to turn around, get in his car, and get the hell out, but his body had other ideas. He was completely winging this.

Successfully entering the facility, as the system that oversaw the building had records of him and approval of his being there, he quietly wandered around while begging for a plan to materialize in his head. Yeah, this wasn't going as smoothly as he wanted.

"Mr. Stark?"

Tony jumped at his name being called. "Woah, hey, yeah, hi, that's me."

He turned around to see the red, vibranium-laced android staring at him. Well, at least he didn't have to go searching for him now, and have something awkward happen, like running into Steve.

Except now he didn't know what to do. He hadn't gotten that far.

Damn.

"Hey, Jar—err, Vision, what's up?" the retired Avenger asked.

Vision examines him for a brief moment before answering, "Nothing in particular. I believe Captain Rogers said we were to have a rather arduous training exercise tomorrow, so currently each of us are resting. May I ask why you're here, Mr. Stark?"

Tony doesn't answer, and instead gives him a second or two to just relish hearing his AI's old voice again. JARVIS wasn't gone, just…relocated. Into a body. Who now stands with the Avengers and fights crime.

Finding himself coming back into the present, the Stark prodigy felt how awkward the situation got, especially since he hasn't given The Vision an answer. "Oh, uh, y'know, just checkin' in, making sure everything's running." _Which it should, since Pepper and I built the damn thing. Great job, Stark._

Tony had a strong feeling that the caped Avenger saw right through his lie, but he guessed the Vision decided to humor him. "Well, I can assure you, nothing of great risk has come up, and the building is running smoothly, as you've designed it to."

"Right, of course," Tony concurred, leaving them in an awkward silence again.

"So, uh, how're the others doing? The Capsicle being a good boss for all of you?" he went on, hoping to have the voice of his former AI fill the air, and some part of his heart.

Smiling at the nickname, the Vision replied, "Yes, actually. I believe all of us have had a few rough patches, but there has been improvement. In fact, the Captain informed us of a mission in LA that we will be taking on tomorrow…"

And the creation and creator talked, of the group's exploits, of what was in store for them, and a bit of each other's health, as Tony was curious as to how Vision was adapting to human life. But all while Tony happily stood and listened, sometimes to what the android was saying, and other times just to the sound of his voice. He'd of course interject with his own commentary, but he mostly let the caped Avenger drive the conversation, which even surprised himself, as he rarely let anyone drive anything drivable but himself.

But soon, the inventor found himself holding back one too many yawns. Checking his watch, he saw that he and Vision actually conversed well into the night, to his delightful surprise.

"Oh, shoot, I think I'm gonna have to cut it off. It's late as hell, and Pepper's gonna have my ass if I don't check back." Tony rose from the chairs they had migrated over to at some point during their conversations of everything and nothing.

The Vision hummed in agreement as he rose too. "Yes, I'm sure Mrs. Potts isn't a force to be reckoned with."

As they walked over to the door Tony came through, the red droid asked, "Is there anything else I can help you with, Mr. Stark, before you take off?"

The middle-aged man chuckled. "I don't think that's in your protocol anymore. But thanks."

"On the contrary, despite my not being your former AI, he is still within me, in an odd manner of speaking. So it does please me in a way to be of service, like our conversation we had."

Tony shot him a questioning glance.

"Jarvis meant very much to you, more than just the butler your father hired. I'm sure you miss him."

In response, Tony let out a smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes. So the Vision really did get everything from JARVIS. "Yeah…well, I guess I'll have to cope with the loss I got over ten years ago. It's whatever, I'll handle it."

Giving another smile to the Stark's offhanded attitude, he gave a very Jarvis response, "Well, if you need me, I shall be here. Goodnight, Mr. Stark."

Tony looked back to meet his gaze, staring into Vision's almost too mesmerizing green eyes. "Thanks, buddy. G'night." And with that, he was off.

* * *

Days became weeks, and weeks became months. Tony eventually got used to the fact that his British AI was no longer around, and warmed up to FRIDAY pretty quickly. But he'd always pop by the Avengers Facility, alone and in the night, just to have a chat with Vision every now and then, to talk about everything and nothing. It surprised him how much of their conversation delved into physical and computer science, along with life, but then again, it really didn't. He had created him to be the pinnacle of brilliance, after all.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading.**


	5. Down Time

**A/N: Another one! I'll admit, I started this one a while back, but then I decided to watch Daredevil (twice, because it was _that good_ ), and fawn over Matt Murdock for several days. But it's here! Hope you enjoy! And thanks to all users who've favorited, followed, and reviewed!**

* * *

Fury had sent the new team into Virginia-Maryland border near the Chesapeake Bay to do some investigation on suspicious activity. Apparently it had been suspicious enough to need Earth's newest Mightiest Heroes, but the Cap had seemed on board, so the rest of the team followed. They trusted him, and Fury definitely made sure to disclose all information about the operation to avoid a scuffle like the two had with the mission with STRIKE.

The mission had involved heavy gang activity, arms dealing, and piracy, but of course, the team got in, spoiled their "fun", and made a wrap of the it. Now, since they were away from the base and could afford some time to themselves, they were absolutely going to take it.

Currently, the seven were situated in an SUV, with Sam at the wheel, still in civilian clothing to keep an inconspicuous look. As much fun as it would have been to go into the op guns a-blazing (which would have been quite literal for a few of them), after what happened in Sokovia, and even with the Triskelion, Fury had expressed the need to keep a low profile. Which was fine with the rest of the Avengers, but it still felt odd to reach the consensus and not have a certain billionaire object.

The whole day ahead of them, they all talked about their possibilities in sightseeing, or just chilling by the coast, when Pietro, who admittedly was still half asleep, said he was hungry, like, incredibly hungry, as last night's mission had them skip dinner. After Sam and a couple others said they were feeling peckish as well, the team decided to find a place to eat.

So while the seven cruised on the highway, they had their eyes peeled for any road signs that would lead to a promising breakfast.

"Ooh, take the next exit," Natasha spoke out after seeing a favorable sign.

"What the—I'm in the left lane, you gotta gimme a better heads up!" Sam shouted, executing some fancy driving in order to make the exit.

"Quit your whining, we still made it," she retorted, almost grinning. She couldn't wait to get to the restaurant.

After directing the pilot, he parked, and the team spilled out of the car.

Looking at where they were, Steve, the twins, and the Vision of them made a face, very confused, while Rhodey and Sam sniggered with Natasha.

"Cracker Barrel?" Wanda read, really wondering if she read it right.

Nat simply replied, "C'mon, I'm starving," and led the group in.

Steve could feel all their eyes go right to him as they walked into the shop half of the establishment. And he tried to keep a straight face. Because everything in the shop screamed "America", and he could still hear Rhodey and Sam practically giggling.

"I do believe we've stumbled upon your homeland, Captain," the Vision spoke out, milking out laughs from more than just Sam and Rhodey this time.

Leading Steve and everyone else to the waitress to be seated, Steve couldn't help but feel just the slightest bit nostalgic with the place. The atmosphere wasn't exactly like the 1940s Brooklyn vibe, but it was old timey, and he felt comforted.

The waitress sat the group down, handed out menus, and began to take drink orders. Pietro immediately opened his menu, eyes growing wide. "I hope you still have Stark's card," he quipped as he started to pick out what he wanted.

"Mm, increased metabolism…right…yeah," Rhodey sighed as he looked onto his menu after ordering his drink.

Once the waitress got everyone's drinks written down, she went off to get them.

"How does Grandpa's Country Fried Breakfast seem to you, Steve?" Natasha suggested with a smirk.

"Yeah, or the Old Timer's Breakfast," Sam chipped in.

"Haha, very funny you two," Steve answered dryly.

While the a few more old jokes were being cracked, Wanda and Pietro continued to grow more puzzled as they read the menu.

" _What the hell are grits?_ " Pietro muttered into Wanda's ear.

" _I don't know, what's a hashbrown casserole?_ " Wanda returned.

" _Could it be that in the picture…?_ " And the two whispered back and forth, trying to get a sense of what all the American breakfast foods were.

Natasha looked up from her menu over to the twins and smiled a bit whens he saw their struggle.

" _The hashbrown casserole is the weird brown, cube-ish thing next to the eggs in the second picture_ ," she replied in their language.

The Maximoffs stopped speaking and slowly turned their surprised gaze onto Natasha, who merely smiled back.

"… _Thanks_ ," Pietro responded as soon as the situation was getting a little awkward.

Natasha continued to point out what was what and helped them decide on their orders as everyone else chose what they were getting.

Soon the waitress came back with their drinks, mostly coffee (tea for Steve) and orange juices. Then she took their orders, and went on her way.

"I think she'll be receiving a rather impressive tip," Vision said, referring to just how much Pietro ordered.

"Eh, I'm sure Tony won't mind. Although it'll probably be a tight fit on the table," Rhodey replied.

"So, Steve," Sam started, "how's it feel to be home?"

Steve let out half a smile as the rest of his team laughed.

"You know, Wanda and I would imagine that this is what America would be like, and laugh. I never thought we'd be right," Pietro revealed.

"Only partially. This is definitely the first time I've seen a place like this," Steve admitted, staring around at the adornments on the walls from older times with fond eyes. "Brooklyn was a little different, but it feels homey."

"We should've brought you here sooner then, Cap," Nat joked. "Or, we could donate you, so you can join the knick-knacks on the wall."

"Alright, y'know what, Romanoff," Steve poked back amid the laughter.

They continued to chat, feeling almost normal for a moment, until their food arrived, with the help of two other waitresses.

They laid out each Avenger's respective order in front of them, finishing off with Pietro's massive one. His eyes were bulging with a mix of slight fear and excitement.

"Pietro, do not use your super-speed to eat all of your breakfast. You might actually hurt yourself," Wanda half-teased, half-warned.

"How do you expect me to finish all this in time?" he asked, making a face.

"Fury can wait another hour," she simply stated.

"Ten bucks he can't finish it," Rhodey whispered to Sam.

"You're on," Sam replied.

The seven dug into their meals, continuing some conversations from before while starting others ("Wait, since you're an android, do you _have_ to eat?" and "…So I flew up to the governor's palace, dropped it at his feet, and said 'Boom, you lookin' for this?'" Rhodey gave Steve a smug side-eye while everyone else laughed). Nat would occasionally nab food from others with a smirk, while the victim could do nothing but bicker a little. The twins, however, seemed restless ("Wanda, that was _my_ pancake!" "You have six more!").

It felt good. Better than good; great, normal even. Here they all were, together, as a team, or, dare Steve think it, a family. A very odd, slightly dysfunctional family, but one nonetheless. Of course, families don't regularly go out to knock out foreign pirates and arms dealers, but that was just a detail. They had definitely had a rocky start, but they were pulling through. He smiled as he discretely took a look at his team.

 _Ah, I'm getting nostalgic. Must be the atmosphere of this place,_ he thought, smiling to himself and continuing his meal.

When they at last finished, even Pietro (to which Rhodey muttered, "damn" under his breath and passed Sam a ten), they got up to head back to the car and start their little adventure.

On their way out through the shop, Rhodey went to pay with Tony's card (at least he had a good story to tell) while the rest went to the exit.

"Wait, I'll be right back," Natasha said suddenly, heading back into the store with a mischievous glimmer passing through her eye.

Questioning glances were shared. " _What for?_ " Wanda asked in Sokovian.

" _Since we came to the Captain's 'homeland', we can't leave without a souvenir, can we?_ " the assassin answered over her shoulder.

Wanda grinned at Pietro as the two of them followed Natasha in.

And so the three of them went around the store, quickly looking for something in Steve's size, which would have to be big, just for his shoulders.

" _Wait, what about this one?_ " Wanda suggested to Nat, grinning as she imagined Steve walking around with bits of the US Constitution on him.

The two laughed and debated between a couple others Natasha had found, probably startling about half the people in the shop, as it was all in Sokovian. Nat was pretty sure she saw two elderly women who looked mortified and offended. She laughed internally.

Then, Pietro came up behind Wanda with a shirt. " _What about this one?_ "

The pair looked at the shirt, then each other and burst out laughing. " _It's perfect, let's get it_ ," Natasha ordered.

On their way to the register, Wanda saw a World War II Veterans hat on a mannequin and hexed it down into her hands. " _This too_ ," she said, giving it to Natasha to add to their purchase, which she gladly did.

The three walked out of the store with anticipation for Steve's face when he saw these. The rest who saw them in the car were slightly afraid.

They all hopped in, Natasha plopping the gifts put in a paper bag onto Steve's lap on her way in. "Happy Birthday."

Steve raised an eyebrow and glanced to Sam, who shrugged and gave a "go with it" look. He opened it to reveal a t-shirt with a bald eagle on it, proudly cawing while flying in front of an America flag, which was plastered all over the shirt. He then saw the hat. Needless to say, the whole car was laughing.

"Not funny, you three," Steve called out, trying to keep a straight face. He smiled anyway.

* * *

 **A/N: I actually went to Cracker Barrel a few days ago, and the idea instantly came to me (along with me laughing to myself, which probably helped the idea of me being crazy to my parents). I tried to keep them all in character, but I'm really tempted to draw an OOC Steve walking into Cracker Barrel and freaking out. We'll see. Hope you've enjoyed! Requests and reviews are appreciated!**


	6. Bright

**A/N: Hello! Thank you to everyone who took the time to review! Big hug to each and every one of you!**

 **As for those who gave me requests, thanks a ton! And I know I haven't written anything including them, but don't worry, I'm getting to them!**

 **This fic kind of came to me, and once I thought of it, I was like, "omigosh I have to write this". It was inspired by Echosmith's "Bright", which is definitely my favorite song at the moment. It's so lovely and happy. And I like stars and space. So, I hope you enjoy!**

 **P.S. I'm sorry I'm shipper trash.**

* * *

Another day, another intense training session. Although it was for good reason, Wanda mused, as they had a mission coming up tomorrow. But that didn't stop some of the boys from complaining. At least this time, it was a (relatively) fun team training exercise, involving a very creative obstacle course.

Currently, the team had all washed up and was cooling down after the hard day's work. The HDTV in the lounge they were loosely spread around in was idly on, no one in particular paying close attention to it, as everyone was left to their own thoughts. Except for the twins, who were almost constantly linked to one another telepathically. And currently, Pietro was in the mood for sweets, or mischief, or most likely a mix of both.

Wanda was wandering around the Internet via a Starkpad, still amazed at all the new technology she was able to access. A little clicking here and there led her to find that…

"What?" she exclaimed, out loud it seemed, as the rest of her teammates turned their heads to her.

"What's wrong?" Pietro asked, concerned as he rushed over to her side, looking over her shoulder at the Starkpad.

"There's going to be a meteor shower, tonight!" the telekinetic explained, all but holding back a grin.

After everyone realized no one was in immediate danger, Natasha came over and took a look. "Oh, wow, yeah. And by the looks of it, it's going to be pretty big."

"It'd be a shame to miss it," Vision stated, looking through the Internet as well.

"We've only dreamed of witnessing a meteor shower," Wanda explained, glancing up at Pietro. "Ever since I read it in a book…"

"Bad timing though, we have to report bright and early for Fury tomorrow," Rhodey mentioned.

"And there's no way we could see the shower where we are, no matter how bright. There's just too much light," Sam remarked. "We'd have to go out."

"We can make it back in time," Pietro said, downplaying both of their comments.

"You can, the rest of us would have a problem with that," Rhodey deadpanned.

"Well, that's not too much of a problem if you have a Quinjet," Natasha commented casually.

"See?" Pietro motioned to Natasha as if to prove his point.

Rhodey and Sam seemed to collectively sigh, trying to seem like they were admitting defeat, but truthfully, this could be a welcomed break before another assignment. They turned to Steve, as if awaiting his confirmation. The rest followed their lead.

The Captain chuckled. "Don't see why not. Couldn't really see any showers when I was back in Brooklyn. And like Vision said, it'd be a shame to miss 'em."

The twins grinned, showing their excitement, and the atmosphere seemed to get a little brighter.

"When do the meteors peak?" Nat asked, getting up to make her way over to nab a Quinjet.

"Just before dawn," Wanda replied.

"Guess I'm glad it's summer then," Sam noted, as that time would usually be freezing any other time of year.

Everyone followed the red-haired Avenger to the flight deck of the facility, ready to cram in some quality time. As Wanda passed Steve, she gave a "thank you" to him.

* * *

After some careful spy work, Natasha was able to grab a Quinjet, quickly load everyone on it, and they were off into the night sky. There was hardly a cloud, and the stars shined as bright as ever.

"You have a place in mind to go to?" Steve asked Nat once they were steady in the air.

"Yeah; pretty sure he won't mind," Nat smirked as she pulled up a call screen.

After a couple of rings, the receiver picked up.

"…ila's got her dolls! Hello? Nat, what're you calling for? I'm putting the kids to bed!" Clint demanded.

"Hey, so the team and I are currently running away from the facility for a few hours, wondering if we could land at your farm."

"It's not just a farm—" Slightly irritated sigh followed by a smirk from Natasha. "What're you flying away from the base for? Don't you guys have a job to do?"

"Yeah," Nat replied in a somewhat ambiguous tone of voice. "But we got wind there's gonna be a crazy meteor shower, and since New York has a ton of light pollution, we just thought that you and the family might enjoy a little show tonight."

Another half irritated sigh from the archer. "Lemme talk to Laura." His face disappeared from view as he went to go consult with his wife.

"Way to give a heads up," Steve mentioned.

"Eh, it's our style," Natasha returned.

A moment later, Clint's voice faded back to them. "You're lucky it's summer break for the kids, otherwise I'd have to say no. But go ahead, just land in an empty spot. What's your ETA?"

"3:00AM."

"Great. See you guys then." The line cut off, successfully leaving the Avengers with a landing spot.

* * *

After a few hours passed, occupied with small talk and mischievous doings from time to time thanks to the playful sides of Pietro, Sam, and Rhodey ("You don't become friends with Tony Stark without learning how to seriously prank people. I went easy on you all tonight just because we're in a jet."), Nat landed the Quinjet practically in the Bartons' backyard. Once everything was set, the team headed out, and they were met with excited squeals.

"They _are_ here! The Avengers!" Cooper and Lila practically screamed, rushing to them with excitement. Lila, however, went straight for Aunty Nat. Nathaniel was safely wrapped up on Laura's frontside.

While there was some slightly awkward greetings and maneuvering, the mini-Bartons were appeased in discussing how awesome the Avengers are and how it was so cool they got to wake up this late _to see shooting stars_ to Wanda and Pietro. The others made their way over to Clint and Laura, exchanging greetings, and Clint introducing the new Avengers team to Laura.

"Well, we better go and find a nice, clear spot to see the show. C'mon, kids!" Laura stated, trying to get the kids back to her to give the Maximoffs some breathing room. And so the family went to search for the perfect spot to see the stars fly.

It wasn't too hard though, as the Barton's homestead came with acres of land. They passed the Quinjet on their way there, and Cooper asked enthusiastically if they could watch on the top of it. Mrs. Barton merely responded with a raised eyebrow and a "no". The responded pout was admittedly cute, however.

The group took their seats on the grass and turned their gazes upwards. Wanda and Pietro's eyes were darting everywhere, glancing over constellations and planets, trying to catch something. When suddenly—

"Look!" Wanda shouted, pointing northward. Everyone turned their attention to the spot she pointed to, the kids shouting in response with equal excitement.

A quick, white flash in the sky had caught her attention, but right as she shouted, the meteor had vanished back into space.

"Aww…" Lila sulked, sad she missed it.

"Don't worry, there'll be more," Clint comforted, keeping his eye on the skies.

"There's another!" Pietro shouted, pointing to a different part of the sky.

"Where? Where?!" the Barton kids yelled in response, almost waking their youngest sibling.

"Oh, there goes another one!" Steve pointed out, smiling.

But soon, they didn't need to point out every single one they saw. At least every minute, one or two would graze against the dark sky, quick but clear. Then it became a continuous shower, and everyone sat back and enjoyed the show.

Wanda was sincerely amazed. She would have never dreamed of seeing anything like this, and now here she was, witnessing one of the most magical things on this planet. The Vision had definitely been right, it would have been a terrible shame to miss this.

* * *

A solid hour passed as they watched the meteor shower, but by then, Cooper was dangerously close to falling asleep, and Laura was pretty sure Lila was asleep. So the Barton parents decided to call it a night, but told the Avengers they were more than welcome to stay for a bit longer, if they could spare the time. They gave them their thanks. Clint carefully picked up Lila, helped Cooper up, and then headed home. The heroes silently elected to stay for a bit more, wanting to live more in the moment. Besides, when were they ever going to have a chance like this? Danger could bombard the Earth at any moment; they should cherish what they could afford to get away with now.

Time passed, and when the Captain decided that they should be heading back to meet up with Fury, the eyelash of a moon was starting to ascend to the stars. With a sigh, they all heaved themselves up and trickled to the Quinjet. Wanda was the last to rise, wanting to make the most of it.

As they all made their way, Vision stopped and turned around, noticing Wanda wasn't following the rest and still gazing towards the sky littered with shooting stars. He stared, not able to help himself, losing himself in her beauty and sheer happiness, even at a usually abhorrent hour to most. She was just as beautiful, if not more than when he first saw her shortly after his birth. He smiled as the stars lit up her face.

Coming back to reality, he glanced back at the rest of the team walking to the jet, he went back to the brunette to get her.

"Miss Maximoff," he murmured, touching her shoulder to bring her attention back to Earth.

She jumped a little and blinked, readjusting her senses. Wanda searched around before her eyes landed on Vision's vivid ones. Their eyes locked, and they stole another moment to share.

"Yes?" she breathed after a minute or two, still lost in his eyes.

Vision blinked, remembering why he was standing so close to her. "The others are almost at the jet. They…will be wondering where we are."

"Right," Wanda sighed, fully aware of reality now. "Of course, we should be going." The young Avenger smiled to the android and started her way to the Quinjet. The Vision simply followed.

* * *

After everyone was on the Quinjet, Nat got it ready to go after smirking at Sam's poke at why Vision and Wanda arrived late. Wanda playfully smacked his arm while the Vision took it with a smile in good nature. Pietro, on the other hand, looked like he was going to have a chat with her sister later.

By the time they were airborne, the majority of the heroes got somewhere comfortable to catch a few winks, anticipating Fury's…well, fury, as they were going to be slightly late. A lot of them wished there was a coffee maker on the jet.

Vision walked over to Nat in the pilot's seat. "If you would like to take a few minutes and rest, I could fly the jet while you do so," he offered.

The red-head took a glance over her shoulder at him, raising an eyebrow. "You know how to fly a jet?"

"Well," the droid responded, "even if I am not JARVIS, I do have his protocols and capabilities when he was Mr. Stark's AI. And since JARVIS has flown many a plane for Mr. Stark, I have the ability to as well."

Natasha let out a "huh", impressed, and shrugged. "Alright, go for it." She wasn't one to lose a few winks when she could afford to get them.

Vision bowed his head and smiled courteously. Nat thanked him as she rose from the seat and went to find a comfortable spot to get some shut-eye. The red Avenger got comfortable in the pilot's seat and flew the jet all the way back home.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry if Scarlet Vision isn't your cup of tea. Literally when I first heard the song a couple times over, I thought of the two of them, and I almost giggled out loud in a coffee shop while staring at my laptop...**

 **The meteor shower here is actually based off the Perseids, which is an actual shower that will happen in August! It's prime for those in the Northern Hemisphere, so sorry to those in the Southern. However, the Delta Aquarids are great in the Southern Hemisphere, and happen late July to early August! Check out more meteor shower info at the website earthsky.**

 **Thanks so much for reading. Reviews and requests are greatly appreciated. Happy Summer!**


	7. Happy Birthday

**A/N: So I'm pretty late with this. I actually almost didn't write this, just 'cause it was so late. But I felt like you guys, and Steve, deserved this.**

 **Note: To those who sent me requests, don't worry, they're being done!**

 **Happy Birthday, Steve**

* * *

Steve woke up to the sound of birds chirping as the sun slowly started to peek over the horizon of trees. He sat up and allowed a long moment to marvel at the sunrise. The past few nights the super soldier had woken up in the dead of night, cold sweat dripping down his temples, with old memories punching at his mind. This would lead to him trapping himself in the basement gym with a row of punching bags that had been supplied just for him. It was touching in an odd sense.

But tonight had been different. Tonight, he had miraculously gotten a full night's sleep, and his circadian clock had awoken him right as the sun was rising, to which he was extremely grateful for. Nights like this were hard to come by, he was bitter to admit.

Exhaling a breath, he cleared his mind of most of his depressing thoughts and turned to his window to enjoy the sun a little more. Today, he wasn't going to mull on old memories, or at least he was going to try his best not to. It was his birthday after all.

After clearing his head, he got out of bed to freshen up before looking for breakfast.

* * *

Sam knew Steve wouldn't want anything huge for his birthday. Steve was a simple man, and he appreciated the simple things in life. Which was why Sam had gotten up, hopefully before the birthday boy, to make breakfast.

After struggling to find some kitchen tools, and food coloring (this kitchen seemed to have everything), Sam created a hearty breakfast that could potentially put the blonde captain back to sleep.

"Mmm, smells delicious," an accented voice mused.

Sam, in the middle of making eggs, whipped his head over his shoulder to see who it was.

"Hey, ah ah, don't touch those! They're for Rogers, when he gets down here," Sam warned the hungry speedster.

Pietro pouted in response. "Then what am _I_ going to eat?"

Realizing his mistake, Sam's face slowly deadpanned. He should've foreseen that he couldn't just make breakfast for Steve.

"Unfortunately, if you cook for one member, you cook for all members," another accented voice said, as if reading Sam's mind.

The pilot looked over again to see Wanda beside her brother. "I should know." She gave Sam a knowing smile, referring to the huge breakfast the Avengers shared in the Tower, back in the city.

Sam bit back a groan. "Right…"

"It's alright, we can help," Wanda offered.

"But one thing: why are the pancakes red, white, and blue again?" Pietro asked, eyebrows knotted in confusion.

Sam chuckled. "Well, today's July 4, so basically all of America will be celebrating its Independence Day. But, it's also Steve's birthday."

The twins raised their eyebrows simultaneously. "Really?"

"Mmhmm. Can't get any more patriotic than being Captain America and having your birthday on July 4."

After sharing a laugh, Wanda got started on bacon, while Pietro called dibs on the pancakes. Although it took him a few tries for him to get the food coloring right.

In the midst of their cooking, a just-showered Natasha popped into the kitchen, with the goal of snatching a few pieces of bacon in her mind. But after seeing they were all cooking for Steve's birthday (and everyone else), she decided to help cook, and help Wanda in keeping Pietro's self control in check. But inevitably, Sam had gotten stuck in more than a couple conversations in Sokovian. He just hoped they weren't talking about him. They probably were, knowing Romanoff.

When they finished, Wanda set the table outside the kitchen, and Natasha grabbed the syrup along with red-white-and-blue sprinkles and fruit (only red and blue fruit of course).

In the middle of them setting everything up, Sam raised his head at footsteps led to the kitchen.

"Hey, man!" Sam greeted the Avenger.

"Morning, Sam. What's all this?"

"I know you probably wouldn't have wanted anything big, but I still wanted to do something for you. Happy Birthday, Steve."

Steve looked at the ridiculously colored pancakes next to the pile of eggs and the mountain of bacon. He let a wide grin spread on his face. "Wow…thanks, you guys." He ducked his head, slightly embarrassed, but immensely grateful. Steve hadn't been expecting much, so this came off as a delightful surprise.

"It was all Sam, we just came down early enough to help," Nat explained, but glad that Steve appreciated it all.

"I had actually only though of making enough for your big, super-soldier mouth," Sam chuckled. "But then I was reminded that we may have other hungry teammates…" He side-eyed Pietro, who not-so-sheepishly grinned.

Steve laughed. "Yeah, we're a team, in every aspect. Means we gotta share."

"Except for you today, man. You can dig in," Sam said, nudging Steve to get breakfast.

The captain had to admit he was pretty hungry, so he grabbed a plate and started piling. "By the way, where's Rhodey and Vision?"

"Well, Rhodey's right here," a new voice chimed in.

Everyone turned their heads to see Rhodey giving Sam a glare. "Really? You leave your former CO outta this?"

Sam made a face that said he was gonna pay for that later.

Rhodey joined the other Avengers in grabbing breakfast, minus Wanda, who went to go get Vision.

Once everyone was at the table and eating, Steve started to have that feeling again. That feeling of virtual normalcy. His team crowded around a table, talking about everything and nothing at all (and was Pietro having a chugging contest with Rhodey?), with no Earth-threatening mission that the Avengers had to handle today. Usually Steve would reprimand himself, saying mentally that this was a group of specifically talented people laying down their lives for the greater good of their world. They all had their own scars, their own dirty pasts. But not today. Instead, he just reveled in the light of the sun's rays and chatted with Vision on how he was taking in the 21st century.

* * *

Almost two hours passed by before everyone had finished eating, and all the dishes were placed in the sink (for someone else to take care of). The team had migrated to the lounge, and were splayed over the couches there. Steve was currently trying not to fall back asleep.

"Hey, there's a fair happening not that far from the facility," Rhodey mused, looking at his phone. "Wanna go?"

"Fair?" Wanda questioned. She and Pietro shared a confused glance.

Steve blinked and gave himself a moment. "Wait, you guys have never been to a fair…? Well, now we have to go!"

"Then let's go jack a car," Natasha smirked and got up. Everyone else followed, the twins still confused.

* * *

After arguing who was going to drive ("Pietro, you don't even have a license, no you cannot drive"), Earth's Mightiest Heroes pulled into a grassy parking lot and poured out of the car, all in inconspicuous garb.

The sound of excited children, the sight of a ferris wheel, and the smell of greasy fair food greeted Steve, and he smiled. A lot had changed in the 70 some years he had been stuck in the ice. Fairs, not so much.

"Let's go, the rides aren't going to come to us," Nat jibed, and ushered everyone to go.

When they had paid to get in (not courtesy of Stark however), the Maximoffs jaws dropped. "People ride _those_?"

"Yeah, it's pretty great," Nat answered.

Steve's grin faded for a moment as he looked at all the rides that were completely foreign to him, save for the ferris wheel. Alright, so maybe some things did change.

"Woah, ok, we've gotta try that one." Sam pointed out a ride that looped the riders in circles.

Steve agreed and laughed as he pushed for everyone to go on with them, trying to ignore the thought of how Bucky would've loved this.

* * *

They spent a good portion of the day there, riding every ride at least once, most of them twice (probably three times if the lines weren't so long, and the workers hadn't stared so much), and eating a _lot_ of food. Steve, Vision, and the twins also experienced deep fried candies and Oreos for the first time.

By the time they were on the ferris wheel, the sun was starting on its journey westward, slowly painting the clouds red as it went. Steve, still enjoying a milkshake, reveled in the sun once again that day. Nat sat across from him, and the two shared a tired, but comfortable silence. Outside their car, they could still hear children yelling and laughing. They had no clue where they got all the energy and resilience.

Steve's admiring of the sun was cut short, because his attention was directed to a group of men carrying a couple of boxes of fireworks. Suddenly he felt his stomach dropped. Why he hadn't foreseen this, he didn't have a clue. Fireworks were a staple on Independence Day. _Why hadn't he seen this coming?_

Nat glanced over at the birthday boy, noticing his muscles getting tense. "Hey, everything ok?"

The blonde Avenger took a second or two to respond. "What? Oh, yeah…" He wasn't.

Natasha followed Steve's line of sight to the men carrying the fireworks. _Oh_. She had put the pieces together pretty quickly, and mentally scolded herself. She had thought of a plan on getting the group out early so they could avoid the fireworks, but it seemed she had lost track of time. _Damn_.

Their car started to slow down, signaling that they could get off soon.

"Man, I'm kinda beat. Maybe we should head back, call it an early night," the redhead commented with a crooked smile, keeping things light.

Steve started to relax. "Yeah, let's do that."

Luckily, their car was the first of the few that their team had overtaken, so she successfully got everyone together in a few minutes. No one really fought with her in leaving. They were pretty tired, and pretty full with a good dose of fair food.

Handing the wheel off to Rhodey, the rest of the team filed into the back. The twins fell asleep on the way home.

* * *

When they got back to the facility, the sun had touched the horizon. Parking the car exactly where they had found it, the team, all somewhat groggy, filed out and headed back inside.

Once they were back at the lounge, Steve decided to excuse himself. Nat bit back a smile at the perfect timing.

"Ok guys, gather 'round real quick, I've got an idea."

* * *

Steve stared out a window, lost in his thoughts. All day, he couldn't help but think of how much Bucky would've enjoyed himself, and it wasn't helping anything, least of all his mentality. Needless to say, he was slightly bitter with himself. But he was really grateful for Natasha. He didn't know if she knew about his PTSD (she probably did), but that and the fireworks would have been horrible.

He shook his head, as if trying to get rid of those thoughts, and looked down at his sketchpad. Steve had been inspired by the sun, and what he saw all throughout the day. He was painting it all as much as he could, to remember, but also to forget.

A soft knock on the door made him turn his head (and almost mess up a cloud in his painting).

"Vision! What's up?" Steve greeted, trying to bring back his sprightliness from earlier today.

"I did have a question, but if you're preoccupied, I can come back a bit later," the android replied.

"Nah, you're fine. This can wait. What is it?"

"Well, I was talking with Miss Romanoff, and I inquired her about something that I may have missed, in regards to today's time. She said I should ask you about it."

Steve gave a confused smile. "What question could I possibly answer better than Natasha about the 21st century?"

"…What is Mario Kart?"

* * *

The birthday blonde of course couldn't help himself, and had dragged Vision down to a basement lounge, with full gaming equipment. And of course he showed him how to play, beating him for a good while too. Although there was one round in which Steve was at least 98% sure that he had fiddled with the game in some way, claiming there was something wrong with the console ("There is no freaking way you can start with a mushroom, Vision, what is this?!"). But after sharing a laugh, Steve got Vision to revert the settings back to normal, and they continued on. Vision got the hang of it surprisingly fast. Or maybe not so surprisingly, considering he was a synthezoid.

But in the middle of a race, everything had suddenly gone dark. The screen went black, the lights were out. The only thing that glowed was Vision's mindstone.

"What's going on?" Steve asked, turning serious. There was no way the facility could be under an attack, at least three different alarms would have gone off.

Someone, who Steve was sure wasn't Vision, sniggered, and another person seemed to have slapped them on the arm.

Then, near the doorway, a lighter lit up, the person holding it lighting two candles that said '97'. The candles gave enough light to show the rest of the team holding a cake.

"Happy Birthday to you…" Natasha started, and the rest followed.

Steve sat on the couch, dumbfounded, as the five slowly walked over and placed the cake in front of him, all the while singing "Happy Birthday". When the song had ended, he had to be snapped out of his shocked expression to blow out his candles. When things got dark again, the lights rebooted.

"Everyone…what…?" he couldn't speak.

"You missed your fireworks, you didn't think you'd end the day without any cake, did you?" Nat asked rhetorically, raising an eyebrow.

Steve smiled, once again dumbfounded. He was a man who had lost a lot of things, but he could feel the possibility of gaining some of those things back, especially now.

"C'mon, birthday boy, the cake isn't gonna cut itself," Sam smirked, handing Steve a cake knife.

Steve could only give a crooked smile, still speechless, as he cut the multi-layered cake.

"It's apple," Nat explained. "We know you like apple pie, but we tried to make a huge pie, and it…ultimately failed, mostly due to time constraint reasons, and someone getting too excited." She eyed Pietro, who this time, sheepishly grinned. "My bad," he simply said.

"No, this…this is wonderful. Thank you, really." He looked up at everyone to show he really meant it. This truly was wonderful.

So, Steve cut his cake, only to realize there weren't plates. But that was easily solved with a good runner on hand. He divided up the pieces, frosting getting all over his face, as each Avenger seemed to have a duty to get a dollop of frosting on Steve Rogers' face before the day ended. This time, Pietro owned up to starting the near food fight.

In the midst of enjoying a lovely cake, a crowd of voices rang through the stairwell leading to the basement lounge. There was one Steve knew, which was weird, because shouldn't he be in California, or something, investing in a simpler life?

"…unno, just to press Fury's buttons maybe, but—hey!"

In walked Tony, grand as usual, followed by Clint and Thor.

Steve got up. "Tony, Clint…Thor! What're you guys doing here?"

"Well, I was actually going to sleep for about 37 hours, but Pepper reminded me of the date, and let's face it, you only turn 97 once," Tony teased. But he gave a rare, sincere smile, wishing him a happy birthday.

"Thor, how…?" the captain had opened his mouth only to close it again, lacking the words to form the question.

"Well, I had simply remembered from yesteryear of your day of birth. And besides, my good friend, Heimdall, had informed me when I asked of everyone on Midgard while I was back home. So, I made arrangements accordingly with my friends, and made time to visit this merry day." The god of thunder gave him a shining smile.

Steve grinned, too touched to even say thanks. "And, Clint! You have a family, kids…!"

"Ah, I talked it over with Laura. She said she could manage the kids for one night. I also promised to do the cooking for a solid two weeks, so there's that. But hey, I wouldn't wanna miss this, Cap." The archer smiled. "I do have to be back by morning though."

"Of course, of course. But grab some cake, while you guys are all here." Steve made room so they could get to the apple cake.

He couldn't remember when he had been happier since he woke up from the ice. The last couple of birthday he remembered spending on missions for SHIELD, or for Loki's scepter. But now, he had been able to relax and have a proper birthday, with some of his closest friends and companions. All except…

"Hey, Tony." Steve tapped the billionaire on the shoulder. "Still nothing on Dr. Banner?"

Tony's face fell slightly. "Unfortunately, no. Bruce is still MIA right now. I have FRIDAY keeping tabs on his search, but the stealth feature is Stark tech, so it's gonna be hard. But don't worry, we'll find him."

Steve nodded. "I don't doubt that."

They went back to enjoying themselves. Thor was catching up with everyone, and retelling some stories from Asgard. Clint sat with the twins, chatting with them, and Tony had wandered over to Sam and Rhodey, not knowing that Rhodey had been Sam's CO. Steve was marveling at Thor's stories, and was on his second slice of cake, because damn, that was a good apple cake.

Right as the laughter died down after Clint had playfully jibed at one of Thor's stories, another set of footsteps reverberated in the stairwell.

"Oh, that should be someone else who's here for you, Steve," Natasha commented, sitting up from lying down on the couch. She made eye contact with Sam, and gave him an imperceptible nod.

"Really? Who else could it possibly be?" Steve was amazed that there could be more people.

The man slowly reached the bottom of the stairwell. He raised his bowed head, the light slowly hitting his face, which was hidden under a hat.

Steve jolted up, dropping his plate and fork. No, this…this was impossible. He had been searching for ages, how could—

"Bucky?"

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry if anything seems OOC or just bad writing. It's 4:00 AM currently, and I was determined to finish this before I go to bed.**

 **I read on tumblr a headcanon about Steve's PTSD and fireworks, so I decided to incorporate that here! Creds to whoever made that up (and almost made me cry, what?).**

 **As of right now, I don't know if I'm going to include Bucky in future chapters. While I would be 2095% ok with that, I want to wait to see what the Russos do with him in Cap3. I don't want to Gatsby him.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed a fun, safe July 4! I hope Steve can one day just be happy *cries patriotic tears*.**


	8. Fears

**A/N: Two in two days, I'm on a roll!**

 **I combined two requests in this one fic, as they both pertained to the same character, and were kinda related, in a way. I felt it would be more efficient, and a longer chapter!**

 **Thanks to Pietro the Speedster and CrazedFangirl13 for sending in requests.**

* * *

 _Whispers bounced off the walls, the hissing sounds harsh on his ears. He felt the cold sheets on his bed he was lying on, freezing against his skin._

 _Where was Wanda?_

 _The lights were too harsh; he wanted to turn them off. But movement somehow eluded him, his limbs feeling like lead. His eyes began to hurt._

 _Where was Wanda?_

 _Feeling like every muscle in his body had been torn and sewn back together several times, he mustered all his willpower to at least_ try _and turn off the lights._

 _Bad idea. The second he attempted at lifting his body off the bed, the wind was knocked out of him, he was sitting upright, staring at a bland concrete wall, muscles in protest, and why did his head feel like he was suffering from whiplash?_

 _Where was Wanda?_

 _Pietro turned to get out of bed, to find a light switch, but he found himself crashing into the corner opposite of his bed._

 _What was this?_

 _More whispering, he could hear them. Partly confused, partly terrified, his eyes glanced at the men standing outside—his cell?_

 _ **Where was Wanda?**_

 _Pietro saw an exit beyond the men outside his 'room', so he tried to bolt towards it, which was his second mistake. He found himself slamming against a solid wall of plexiglass, further injuring himself._

 _Confusion and anger began to bubble inside of him. And the damn lights were still annoying him._

 _Pietro continued to bounce throughout the room, slowly piecing together what was happening. His eyes, dancing around the room a mile a minute, landed on a door, his ticket out. Not giving it another thought, he rushed towards it, only to receive electric shocks coursing through his body when he made contact with the door. Letting out a yelp of pain, he darted back to the other corner of the cell._

 _This wasn't what they had agreed on._

Pietro jolted awake with a gasp, sitting upright on his bed. His eyes danced around the room, finally settling on his twin sister. He let out a shaky sigh.

 _It was all a dream. Wanda's safe, and I'm in the Avenger's facility,_ he thought to himself, trying to calm down. The sweat trickling down his temple told him otherwise however.

As quietly as he could, so he didn't wake Wanda, he threw his covers off him in frustration and made a dash for the kitchen. He knew he wasn't going to fall asleep again.

Arriving in the next few seconds, he glanced at the clock on the microwave.

 _5:17AM_

Well, at least no one would be bothering him, right? He just needed to avoid Vision, who of course, didn't need to sleep. _Lucky bastard_ , he grumbled under his breath.

The speedster grabbed the box of tea in the pantry and absentmindedly filled a kettle with water to boil. Wanda always made tea to calm him down; it was comforting.

He was mostly confused. It's been weeks since he'd had a dream like that. Occasionally, he'd recall snippets of Strucker's work on him in his dreams, but any nightmares of that magnitude or duration he thought had circulated out of his system since he joined the team of superheroes. Guess he was wrong.

Pouring the hot water into his mug, he grabbed a chair, sat at the island in the kitchen, and frowned at the green tea, wondering why his past was creeping back to haunt him.

A few hours later, Steve had rounded up the rest of his teammates outside one of the training centers in the facility. They were going to work on a 'fun' teamwork exercise that Steve and Natasha thought of and created over the past week. Pietro sighed inwardly. He came in already knowing he wasn't on top of his game, but now this?

Wanda glanced at her brother. She was worried; his mind was distant, and she felt like he was avoiding her eye contact.

Steve divided them into two teams. One consisted of Rhodey, Vision, and Wanda, with Natasha as the leader. The other had Sam and Pietro, with Steve as their leader. Steve and Natasha had thought of letting a member sit out and just have them rotate in due to fairness, but Nat had argued that the playing field wasn't always fair. Steve had agreed.

Once the teams were set, they were informed of their goals. It was really a glorified game of capture the flag, except everyone knew that in reality, the 'flag' could be anything, from important data to a bomb to a child hostage. Each team's objective was to retrieve the opposite team's flag, while triggering the least amount of traps and alarms and guarding their own flag in the process.

By the time the teams entered the training center (which, if Pietro hadn't been off his groove, he would marvel at, because it was impressive three of these centers could fit into the facility), all the speedy Avenger really wanted was to be alone, just to settle his thoughts, which was admittedly odd for him, considering all he seemed to do was hang around people.

 _Ok, so if we just hurry and finish this, we can be done, right?_ He thought to himself. Seemed simple enough. I mean, who could better retrieve something than him? It'd be done in minutes, if not seconds.

Steve led his team over to their corner, where their flag was located, while Nat led her team off to theirs. The blonde Avenger then went through their booby traps and alarms, which basically went in one ear and out the other to Pietro.

Up above them, near the ceiling, three colored light bulbs were aligned, like a horizontal traffic light. The red one glowed, signaling them to get ready. Once the green light was on, all traps and alarms would be set, and they would be off.

The yellow light then turned on. Steve nodded to his team to get ready. Equipment or powers were forbidden in the exercise in order to try and level the playing field (Pietro bit back a groan; when in the world would he _not_ have his super-speed?). But it had really come down to the fact that the War Machine couldn't really be made non-lethal (or it probably could, but Tony would laugh and refuse to create it).

The light switched to green, and Steve shouted a "go!" to signal his team. Deciding to humor the Captain for now, Pietro slowed his pace to a normal one (which felt like he was wading through molasses to him), and followed Sam out. Steve had decided that his personal teamwork with both Sam and Pietro were acceptable, so he stayed back to guard their black flag, while he let the two test the waters between them.

Once they were out a ways, Sam signaled to Pietro to spread out, so they could attack from two different angles. The blue-clad Maximoff nodded, accepting the older Avenger's command. But once the pilot had left Pietro's vision, he focused on one thing: getting the flag, by any means possible, so that all this could be over. So, he darted off, at his speed. He had nothing against his fellow teammate, but he really wasn't in the mood for this.

Pietro dashed around at his normal speed, trying to find his opponent's flag while weaving through different obstacles. It was almost like an urban jungle, with shadows and light casted in unexpected places, but all the barriers and hurdles he had to go through were just annoying him further.

He continued his haphazard search, when suddenly an alarm's siren went off. Startled, the quick-footed Avenger stumbled, scraps from his memories at Strucker's base infiltrating his mind. _Another shock hit his muscles as Strucker's assistants pushed him to his limit. He was running out of energy. But they had Wanda, and they promised to let him see her later._ Pietro started to feel a familiar sense of panic.

 _Just find the flag! End this!_

Pietro ran at top speed now, the blaring alarm only spurring him further. He just wanted to be alone.

The panic that had entered his bloodstream hadn't worn off. But why? Why was he panicking?

 _What's wrong with me today?_ He thought to himself, further confused.

Then his thoughts stopped as his eyes landed on a red flag, the flag that could end this stupid simulation, or whatever it was supposed to be. Rhodey and Vision were currently guarding it, but that was of no concern to Pietro. The first time he had gone in the field, the Avenger hadn't even seen him until he decided to poke fun at Clint.

The alarm spurring him once more, he raced to the base and grabbed the flag, but not before triggering another trap set at the base of the flag holder, shocking his feet. _Run faster._ He let out a yelp before making a beeline for home base. He got back in less than 15 seconds.

Pietro jammed the red flag into its port accordingly, ending the deafening alarm, along with deactivating the rest of the alarms and traps. Slightly out of breath, he steadied his breathing while Steve walked over to him while Sam made his way to the base.

"What was that?" Steve demanded sternly.

"What?" Pietro tried to feign innocence while also trying to come up with the best excuse to leave. His feet still stung.

"We explicitly said no abilities," the super soldier reiterated.

"Like, five times," Sam said between breaths once he made it to the other two.

"Uhh…I-I…" the Maximoff felt his palms sweating as he tried to fish for an excuse. "Look, I don't think I really need this now, I think I should just sit—"

"Don't need this?" Steve repeated, cutting the young Avenger off. "You've been in recovery for a significant amount of time, which means you've had the least amount of interaction with the team. I'd say you'd probably need this the most."

The panic was slowly seeping back. Pietro felt his heart rate steadily increasing. What was happening to him?

"No, I—" But the Captain cut him off again.

"No, I think I've had it up to here with your attitude with the others on this team. You're always the last to focus and the first to be a smart aleck. I let it slide the first few times, but now, you've disrupted an important training exercise, and I can't let it go this time."

But the bleach-blonde only heard half of the lead Avenger's words. Maybe it was the lighting, maybe it was the tone of voice, or maybe something _was_ truly wrong with him, but it was too much. Too much like the head scientists back at Strucker's lab. Too much like what it was, going through all the tests, the trials, the feeling of dread going into it, and the feeling of coming out numb, thoughts locked dead on just getting _rid of the Avengers and Tony Stark_.

He didn't see Steve anymore. He wasn't in a training room in the Avengers facility anymore. He was back in Sokovia, in the dark, cold underground of Strucker's main lab, the only things keeping him alive and sane being Wanda and the thought of ridding the Avengers. Clinging to those two thoughts, he had suffered and fought on.

Pietro stumbled backwards, trying to find an exit. In his blind panic, he let go of his control on his speed, and just focused on getting out. Forgetting his bearings, he slammed full force into a large metal barrier, his head ringing with pain. Scrambling to just _get away_ , he let panic take control of his body and crawled up against the nearest wall, eyes never leaving the looming, shadowed figure in front of him. A small piece of his mind tried to remind him that it was Steve, and he was _good_ , just like he was now, but it got eaten up by the sheer need to just _get away_.

He felt his hands shake as he watched the experimenter step closer, limbs locking in place, refusing to move. _This wasn't what we agreed on!_ Whether he had thought it or screamed it, he didn't know.

The lights almost burned his eyes, just like before. Pietro thought he saw the figure's mouth move, but he heard nothing. His felt his heart hammering against his chest, faster and faster.

 _No._

Suddenly jolting himself back into mobility, the Sokovian boy continued to scramble along the wall, just to find something, _anything_ , that would get him _out_.

Finally feeling a sharp turn in the wall, leading to a door, he didn't take a second glance as he hastily got up and bolted out of the training center.

"I can't let it go this time," Steve said, putting his foot down. He was up to _here_ with troublemakers on his team. The American Avenger didn't mind some light banter here and there; in fact, he sometimes threw some himself. Sam and Natasha weren't ones to hold back either. But for some reason, Pietro just crossed that border, almost every day. Usually Wanda would cut him off from going too far, but Steve wasn't seeing any sign of improvement in his cooperation, and it irked him to no end. He desperately wanted this to start different, to not start off as a time bomb, but to build a solid foundation for a team with trusting members. But that couldn't happen if one crucial part of the foundation wasn't fit for the rest.

"Pietro?"

Something was off. Steve saw that now.

The older Maximoff was unresponsive, his gaze of glazed over and unfocused. It seemed too familiar…

"Pietro!" Steve called out his name, in an attempt to try and get him back to the present. He had to admit, out of all the new Avengers, he least expected Pietro Maximoff to show glimpses of the thousand-yard stare.

But yelling at the young adult was a bad idea. It had only scared him off, turning the cheeky Avenger into a cornered animal.

"Hey…" He lowered his volume to show that he wasn't going to harm him. Relaxing his posture, Steve walked toward Pietro, reaching out in an effort to catch him when he fell. But it only resulted in the kid scrambling away further, on his hands and feet. In all honesty with himself, it hurt Steve to see him like this.

Resuming his reserved posture, the blonde captain continued forward. "Pietro, listen to me. Whatever's going on, whatever you see, it's not there. Look at what's in front of you. You're at the Avengers facility, with all of us…what I had said was uncalled for, and I'm sor—" But in a flash of blue, Pietro Maximoff had disappeared.

Straightening himself, he stared out the doorway, eyes furrowed in sorrow and confusion.

"Pietro?" a soft voice murmured behind him. Steve turned around to see Natasha's team had come back to his side. Wanda's gaze led out the doorway, very confused. She and Steve made eye contact. Confusion, hurt, frustration, and more confusion. That's what he read from her, and it drove the pain in his heart further. Wanda gave him a look not unlike betrayal, before running off to find her brother, shouting his name.

Steve lowered his gaze, shame rising within him. After a moment, he lifted his head to face the rest of his team.

"What happened?" Natasha asked.

Wanda broke into a run the moment she was out the door.

"Pietro!" she shouted, frantically searching, wondering where he was. She was so confused. She thought she could trust Steve, only to see her brother run at the look of him.

The younger Maximoff ran faster. "Pietro!"

 _Where would he_ be _?!_ She wondered. _Where would he go?_

On a whim, she let her feet guide her back to the room they shared. Wanda stopped herself by running into the doorway, catching herself so she wouldn't bang her head against it.

Panting, she glanced in. On his bed, curled in the most frightened and vulnerable fashion she'd seen him, was her brother, her Pietro. She could hear his breathing, harsh and ragged, like he had traversed the globe before coming to his room.

Tentatively, she stepped into their room to his bed. When she reached his bedside, Wanda put a gentle hand on his shoulder. Instantly, his frightened eyes met her steady ones. Then, without words, Pietro reached out and grabbed Wanda in a bone-crushing hug. She returned the hug with equal fierceness, comforting him as he gasped for air.

After quite a few minutes had passed, the older twin relaxed his grip, his breathing returning to a normal rate. Wanda looked up at him, caressing his cheek.

" _What's wrong, my brother?_ " she asked tenderly.

He let out a few breaths before speaking. " _I…I should have told you earlier, but, for some reason, I just couldn't…"_ Pietro sighed, trying to avoid Wanda's gaze, but finding that he couldn't.

" _I had a…terrible dream. A nightmare, I guess, at this point. More memories from…Strucker. I thought all of them had left my mind, I thought they were gone…but it seems they weren't._ " He took a breath before continuing.

" _It was when I had woken up the first time after…my alteration. It was terrible. I couldn't see you, and I was trapped in a room, and…it wasn't anything I had thought of. I felt deceived. We…we_ _ **were**_ _deceived. But when I woke up, it was terribly early, and I wanted you to rest. So I went to the kitchen to make tea, like you would whenever I was troubled, and I tried to forget them."_ Another shaky sigh. " _Unfortunately, I couldn't. Cap…he was disciplining me about not cooperating with the rest of the team, which, I guess I'll admit, is part of my own doing. But, in that training room, with everything around him, the lights, and…I…suddenly I wasn't there anymore…"_

Throughout it all, the brunette didn't say a word, only giving her brother silent comfort through her touch. When she sensed he was finished, she embraced him.

" _Next time…please tell me…_ " she whispered.

" _I will,"_ he responded, returning the hug.

" _I'm so sorry…"_ Pietro couldn't stop a couple more tears escaping his eyes.

Steve sighed for the umpteenth time as he finished recalling what had happened to the rest of the Avengers. The air was thick, and the silence left everyone to their own thoughts.

"Judging from your reactions…I feel I can safely assume that they never actually informed anyone else of what really happened in Sokovia," Vision said after a healthy moment of silence.

Everyone turned their head to him. Steve spoke up first. "Yeah, I mean…we read their files."

The synthezoid shook his head. "Unfortunately, their files provided a poor insight on their time in Strucker's laboratory back in Sokovia."

"'This wasn't what we agreed on.' That's what Pietro had said before he shot off," Steve stated.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"It is not my place to share something so sensitive. I believe the Maximoffs may be willing to retell their story," Vision suggested.

The rest of the team looked at one another, before silently agreeing to do so.

But they were definitely going to give the twins, especially Pietro, their time and space. Steve dismissed everyone, and just gave them the rest of the day. The others used the day as they saw fit. The super soldier wanted to be productive, but the event at the training center seemed to weigh down his heart. So he spent a good portion of the day in his room, window open, and drawing.

By the time the team slowly wandered back together, the sun was setting, casting comforting rays of purple and orange.

Wanda and Pietro were the last to join everyone, after having Vision fetch them. Pietro was still looking a little haggard, but he wasn't in a cold sweat, which was always good.

The twins wordlessly sat down.

After a pause, Steve decided to take the initiative. "Pietro, Wanda…whatever had happened back at the training center, I just wanted to apologize. What I had said was uncalled for at the time. I didn't intend to hurt any of you in any way. I'm sorry." He let his gaze wander between the pair, hoping to get some form of positive reaction.

The Maximoffs shared a glance before Wanda spoke. "We know it wasn't your fault, Steve. Things admittedly got a little out of hand."

The blonde nodded, glad to clear the air between them.

Next, Natasha chimed in, once it was appropriate, hinting at why everyone was gathered. "We were wondering if maybe you could tell us why this happened."

"I had a nightmare," Pietro stated, voice still a little hoarse. "I saw myself back in Sokovia, back with Strucker…I thought those horrible dreams had left me, until today. But those images of the lab couldn't seem to leave my mind, and…I couldn't think straight."

Wanda rubbed his arm in support.

"What happened back there?" Natasha asked further.

After another shared glance and a nod from the speedster, the two of them recalled their time down in Strucker's lab. How they willingly volunteered to be part of Strucker's experiments, knowing little to nothing about the actual procedure, only that in the end, it could help them attain their goal at the time of killing the Avengers. How they had been uninformed of what Strucker and List were truly planning on doing.

They had undergone their operations separately, and were apart from each other for weeks, maybe months, they weren't sure. Time had been irrelevant and untraceable. But it had been the longest they had been apart since their birth. It was terrifying.

The physical pain of surviving the experiments from Loki's scepter was almost unbearable. The two of them had thought that once they were able to survive their new powers, it'd be easier. But they had been wrong. Strucker and List had wanted to know what they could do, every facet of their abilities, every limit. So, both Pietro and Wanda had gone through extraordinary suffering, in order for the HYDRA leaders to obtain their information, and grief, because even when they had been promised to see one another, they were always denied. It wasn't what they had agreed on.

When they finally were permitted to see each other again, ironically, the timely attack of the Avengers was the only thing that kept Strucker and List alive. Both Pietro and Wanda were determined to give them payback, but that all didn't matter, since their chance at getting rid of the Avengers had come up. So they had decided it wasn't important, for now.

The rest everyone knew. They fought the Avengers, and Wanda planted the seed of fear within Tony Stark, leading to Ultron's creation. But after seeing what their simple goal had created, they had their eyes opened.

The two finished their tale. Everyone had been respectful and listened in silence, taking it all in. Steve felt both fury against the HYDRA officials, and relief that the Maximoffs still came out alright in the end.

"Thank you," he stated, "for telling us. I'm glad you two trust us enough to reveal something so significant." He turned to Pietro specifically. "And I really am sorry for what happened earlier today."

Pietro gave a small smile, and nodded. "It's alright, Cap."

* * *

 **A/N: So this is heavier than what I intended this compilation of one-shots to be, but it's the Avengers, and everything isn't sunshine and rainbows and puppies (BUT I CAN IMAGINE). I'm still taking requests, if anyone has anything in mind, even if it's like, "hey, so imagine them doing this...". Thanks to everyone who has reviewed for any chapter, I really appreciated every one of them. Hope you guys enjoyed!**


	9. Tensions

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for not updating sooner, I've had a lot of things happen in my life (college will do that lol). But with Civil War over my shoulder (currently I'll be seeing it in 7.5 hours help), I felt that I should upload something.**

 **So, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Today was not turning out to be a good day for Pietro.

Not that that was out of the ordinary really. It hadn't been a good week, really…for everyone.

The speedster sighed as he brewed over his cup of tea. Wanda usually made him some to calm his nerves (he couldn't remember if it was chamomile or mint that helped soothe headaches but he ended up randomly choosing), but his mind seemed to just be going all around the place.

Wanda was out with the rest of the Avengers, doing more good for the world. Which was definitely nice and all, but it also meant he doesn't get to see his sister as much. Always coming in late at night, sometimes smelling of dirt and sweat, too tired to wash up. Meanwhile, Pietro was effectively stuck at either the Avengers' Facility, or with Dr. Cho in Korea. Unfortunately, he's been suffering some odd ailments, and the doc wasn't sure if it had anything to do with Pietro's healing process. But she didn't want to take any risks, so that meant he was effectively on house arrest until he became mission positive.

Pietro frowned before taking a sip of the warm tea. It was currently around 7:00pm, and the Avengers had just arrived a few nights ago from a mission. But that didn't mean the Captain would cancel training exercises.

The Maximoff twin frowned further. That was another thing that's been odd lately. The Captain. Something was off. He seemed more stern, agitated, and overall exerting pretty rash behavior (and that may or may not mean a lot coming from Pietro). He hasn't really had a chance yet to sit down with the leader of the Avengers and chat, and he had enough common courtesy to not ask the Captain in his face why he was acting like a nail was shoved up his butt (Wanda would hit him for that comment).

Thinking about it, it seemed like all of the Avengers were on edge. Rhodey wasn't around as much, and he and Sam weren't joking around as often. Impromptu gatherings at 4am, banter at dinner, homely breakfasts…they were all becoming less and less common. Usually a couple members at the Facility just wouldn't arrive at the table, and everyone's minds seemed to be elsewhere.

Steve and Natasha weren't talking much either.

Pietro sighed, lips slightly pursed. Something was indeed definitely off.

The short-lived Avenger hadn't known either of them for long, that was for sure. But he could tell that Steve and Natasha were close, been through a lot together. If this were to go as far as them to not be on good terms…

He took another sip and tried to listen for peace in the silence of the setting sun.

All these thoughts were just those—thoughts. He really wanted to share these concerns with Wanda. (He remembered Natasha telling the two of them that it was harmful to keep important thoughts and emotions bottled up inside.) But in the past couple weeks, he's really only had two or three times to really sit down with his sister and talk. And those moments always set a good mood, he really hadn't wanted to break them. Plus, these thoughts had seemed to be that big of a concern, not then. He would always think to himself, "there will be other times to talk". Now, he regretted not saying he at least wanted to speak to Wanda about this matter.

Pietro looked around for a clock. It was not 7:30. Wanda would have to come for dinner sooner or later. He would tell her then. He was going to ask what has been going on for the past weeks that made them like this.

The young adult peered into his mug of tea before finishing it, and stood up. Just then, a wave of fatigue and numbness hit him like Thor's hammer, and the last thing he thought before hitting the ground was that he was going to break Wanda's mug.

* * *

It had been a long day for Sam. On top of Steve's training activity, he was still on the search for the man who could shrink and had intruded the Avengers' Facility. And he was about as hard to find both in battle and on the streets. The pilot was starting to get his connections tangled.

He sighed and entered the kitchen to see if there was something to eat.

Sam stopped on a dime.

Pietro was on the floor, broken shards of a mug beside him.

"Shit," he hissed under his breath. Sam immediately went to put the speedy Maximoff upright, and started to call for help.

"Hey, anybody there?! Help! Goddammit, Stark, you couldn't program an AI for the Facility? Somebody!"

Just then, probably the last person Sam wanted there stepped in.

"Sam, what's wr—"

Wanda froze in her steps. She felt panic creeping into her body, the same panic that had enveloped her in Sokovia.

"Wanda, Wanda, stay with me. Come on, come back to me!" Sam tried his best to keep a cool head and get to a solution.

After a moment, Wanda made eye contact with Sam.

"There we go. Alright, I need you to call Dr. Cho right now. Can you do that?" Sam asked, trying to fight away the apprehension in his voice.

The telekinetic slowly nodded.

"Good. Just go on and grab the phone," the aviator instructed, while trying to keep Pietro supported.

Wanda got up, obviously trying to fight the urge to break down, went to the phone by the refrigerator, and dialed Dr. Cho's number (which she had memorized in case of any emergencies).

" _I need to speak with Dr. Cho_ ," she said, as soon as the receptionist picked up.

The receptionist replied in a confused tone. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Wanda," Sam called.

The other Maximoff turned her head around, almost frantically.

"You just spoke in Sokovian. Speak in English and try again," he suggested, trying to stay encouraging.

That seemed to ground Wanda in the current situation. She blinked several times before realizing her mistake.

"I'm sorry, I need to speak with Dr. Cho, now. It's an emergency."

"Ah, yes of course, right away. I will connect you now." The receptionist's line went dead as she transferred the call.

Wanda peered back to Sam and her brother, keeping the phone to her ear. Sam gave her a thumbs up.

"You're doing great," he said, with a genuine smile.

Wanda couldn't muster a smile, or words for that matter, but she nodded to give her thanks.

"Yes?" Dr. Cho's voice rang through the silence in the phone line.

"Doctor, we need help. M-my brother, he's…" Wanda couldn't bring herself to say it.

"What? What happened?" Dr. Cho pressed.

"Wanda, come here and stay with Pietro. I'll talk to her," Sam offered.

She gratefully handed the phone to Sam, once the Avenger was sure she had a good hold of him with her powers.

Sam's conversation with the Korean doctor slowly faded into background noise as Wanda rested Pietro's head on her lap. She felt his heartbeat, and it comforted her to feel it. He was still here, alive.

"Alright, Wanda, stay here. I'm going to find Natasha, and we're going to fly your brother over to Dr. Cho," Sam assured her once he was off the phone.

Wanda nodded, holding her composure.

Sam rushed off to find Nat.

* * *

Wanda watched as the Quinjet's door closed and Nat soon took off to fly to Seoul.

" _Don't worry, I'll fly your brother safely over and he'll be better in no time,"_ Natasha had reassured.

The brunette had come to find Natasha as a mentor, as she was the only other female Avenger besides herself. Plus, she had helped a lot with coping and adjusting to her new life in America, with Steve and the others. Wanda trusted Natasha's words, and held faith in the redhead as she watched the Quinjet fly further and further into the distance.

Sam walked up and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It'll be alright. Your brother is strong and resilient. He'll be back to his same speedy self."

Wanda placed her hand on top of his. "Thank you, Sam."

* * *

At this point in time, it really wasn't odd to find Tony Stark visiting the Facility every so often. Steve had seen him on multiple occasions talking and chatting with his once-AI. And he couldn't blame him. Thinking about it, the AI was one of the only parts of Tony's life that stayed with him through with him up to this point. It would be weird to have something (someone?) so consistently there for you just be gone.

So, Steve wasn't necessarily too shocked to see Tony sitting on a sofa, sipping coffee and browsing something on an iPad when he exited the elevator. But that also didn't mean he was necessarily happy to see him either.

"Heya, Capsicle," the Stark greeted in his usual, slightly abrasive tone.

"Tony," the blonde captain greeted. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Oh, nothing much, just dropping by…" Tony set down his coffee and the iPad to get up. "How's the team?"

"Doing well. Nothing too urgent at the moment, so we've been holding down the fort," Steve replied.

"That's good; a couple days off is always a good thing, taking a breather…" Tony rambled.

"Yeah…Listen, I don't mean to be rude, but I've just been exhausted the past few days, and I think I need some time to rest." During their time spent together, Steve definitely felt that his relationship with Tony had improved. He sure wasn't his father, but to be fair, he really shouldn't have held him to his father's standards, no matter how similar they seemed. He could confidently say that they were on good terms, but he wasn't someone Steve wanted to talk to right now.

"No, no, I get it, but there actually is something rather important I should speak with you about…"

He could feel another headache coming, but the blonde Avenger could tell that Tony wasn't kidding around.

"Alright, let me grab a cup too then…"

* * *

Sam almost jumped out of his seat when he heard two voices almost shouting at each other and a door slamming open. He turned his head just in time to see Tony walking out of Steve's room and let out a huff as he walked down the stairs, assumingly to exit the building.

The flying Avenger frowned to himself, eyebrows knitted. He knew that Steve and Tony weren't necessarily the best of friends, and they've had their good share of arguments, but he hadn't really seen them get so steamed at each other for a while.

He looked back up to Steve's room. All seemed silent. Sam turned away.

It had been a little more than a week since Pietro was flown off to Korea. Admittedly, things haven't been that great since.

Recently, a sort of split between the Avengers had happened. He had told himself it was nothing, but after Steve and Natasha seemed to have had a bump in the road in their relationship, things hadn't improved. He and Rhodey weren't talking that much either, come to think of it, and Steve was closing himself off too. On top of that, with Pietro collapsing suddenly, Wanda seemed to be under more duress, understandably. She and Vision weren't seen together much either, so much to the point that it wasn't uncommon to see them alone.

Sam just couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the end of it.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's a wrap! I guess this is me still in denial of Pietro's death, so my "explanation" on why he's not in Civil War, hehe. But I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you guys get to see Civil War! Don't forget to leave a review!**


	10. Aftermath

**A/N: I literally saw Civil War last night, and it was perfection. The Russo Brothers redeemed everything from Age of Ultron and made it all better on so many levels. Go see it.**

 **That being said, this is just a small little chapter of feelings, post-movie. There are _spoilers_ so don't read on if you haven't seen it yet.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

This feeling wasn't new. In fact, he probably was more familiar with this than any other handful of emotions.

Tony sat on his bed, watching the sun set with his hands crossed. The letter that Steve had sent was on his bedside table, edges already crumpled after reading it over so many times.

The Facility was silent. Or at least he couldn't hear anything, but that meant FRIDAY was doing her job in locking and soundproofing his room. He didn't know if he could really handle people right now. Even if they were his friends.

But not that anyone would be doing much anyway.

They had all been pretty rattled and broken up, some more literally than others.

Rhodey was currently in Columbia Medical, getting the attention he needed from the right people, instead of the guy who basically gave him his state of paralysis.

Peter was sent home safe, back to doing homework and being the good guy. Tony made sure of it. He wouldn't drag in someone that young, not if he could help it. He had at least done one thing right.

Natasha was in and out. Some days Tony would see her, some days he wouldn't. Alright, most days he wouldn't. And really, he didn't blame her. He had essentially driven away her trusted friends and allies.

Vision. Tony saw less of him than he did Natasha, and that was almost saying something.

When JARVIS was successfully transferred into the would-be body of Ultron, he took a blow. It was hard, and he had truly felt alone for some time after it. But he could still come to the Facility (on the days the Avengers weren't on mission duty), see "JarVision", and have a chat (which was odd admittedly, but he was almost just as, and sometimes more, clever as JARVIS). But now? Vision hardly spoke to him. And he knew why.

Frustrated, the man of iron got up to walk around, break his train of thoughts. But the silence of his room, the Facility, just wouldn't allow it.

He was alone. Truly.

Pepper wasn't here, and if there was a non-biased third party member, they would probably say it was for the best, at least for her sake. Thor was off on another planet, and Bruce, oh Bruce. If he had any hope of finding and bringing him back home, there wasn't much now. He missed his fellow Science Brother more and more.

Steve left, taking half of the Avengers with him, and then some. His childhood hero turned hated villain turned avenging partner and friend was suddenly gone, leaving only a note and the dust under his feet.

And now, he didn't know what to do.

Technically he was still tied with Ross and the Sokovia Accords. So technically he was still an active member of the "Avengers". (He couldn't call them that seriously anymore, not with all of them like this. And besides, him and what army? He was in no shape to bring everyone together and lead them.) But after Steve rescuing his half of the team, and Tony putting Ross on hold (in his mind, indefinitely for the time being), he was about as active as Rhodey was.

The feeling sat in his stomach like a heavy stone.

True loneliness.

No JARVIS, no Pepper, no Steve, no Avengers. Nothing.

Just him, his room, and FRIDAY.

Tony collapsed back onto his bed, feeling the weight of it all. There was no way he could snark his way out of this one, or just depend on someone else.

He was alone.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!**


	11. Intermediate

**A/N: I'm just chugging out chapters. But I'm officially done with my sophomore year of college, and I'm stuck at home until my study abroad in Korea, so I guess expect more frequent updates!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Steve walked up to Wanda, who was sitting against a wall, clutching her knees. The darkness of the early night casted shadows on her face.

"Did you get enough to eat?" the super soldier asked, voice quiet and caring.

His voice pulled Wanda off a train of thought, as she blinked and slowly turned her head to Steve. "Oh, Steve…yes, thank you."

The former captain didn't quite believe her. She hadn't eaten much all day. But then again, circumstances weren't too bright, and he understood she was having a difficult time.

"Here." Steve pulled out a granola bar from his pocket. "Hang on to this, just in case you get hungry later."

Wanda looked up at Steve with almost wide eyes, but accepted the bar. "Thank you…" she murmured.

Steve offered a comforting smile. "No problem."

Just over a week had passed since Steve had rescued his fellow "criminals" from their cells at the Raft. Unfortunately, this actually made them criminals more or less, Steve especially, since he helped them all escape from a government holding facility. So their options on where to settle were very limited to say the least. Currently they've been hopping around different buildings, mostly unused or deserted rooms, but they needed something stable soon. He wasn't sure how everyone was coping, especially Wanda. After finally gaining a comfortable home at the Avengers Facility, she was torn away from a home and a future with her teammates. A lot had happened.

Steve decided to take a seat next to Wanda to offer her company. They would often have talks, sometimes late at night, sometimes right after a mission or a training exercise, and Steve was glad to say that his relationship with her and her brother had improved tremendously. They had a lot to bond over.

"I know a lot's probably been on your mind, since…all this has happened," Steve spoke after a period of silence.

Wanda gave a small sarcastic smile. "Yes…a lot has definitely been on my mind…my brother collapsed mysteriously, Tony Stark all but imprisoned me to the Compound…and I buried Vision under hundreds of tons of rubble…"

Steve listened quietly and took it all in with a pensive composure. He was honestly still surprised that she trusted him, after her trust being tossed around and abused.

"I'm sorry about Pietro…if there's any way I can get in contact with Dr. Cho, I'll let you know," Steve reassured her.

Wanda looked back at him in disbelief. "But Steve, the government—"

"Yes, we are in hiding right now. But Dr. Cho is a good person, and a doctor. I'm sure she wouldn't withhold the status of your brother's health from you." It wouldn't be right otherwise, he thought.

Wanda let his statement sink in. "…Thank you…for everything, Steve."

He gave a smile and a pat on her shoulder in return. "Anytime, Wanda."

Wanda smiled genuinely as Steve got up. They didn't have much, but at least they had each other for now.

* * *

Steve went over to check on Bucky. While his left arm was now gone, luckily Bucky wasn't in pain. And they were able to find a cloth that could wrap over the part of the arm he has, so none of the protruding, sharp metal bits could impede or hurt anyone.

"How are you feeling?" The super soldier sat down next to his best friend.

"Fine, with the circumstances being what they are," Bucky replied with a sigh. But his tired eyes said much more. He was pretty exhausted. And Steve couldn't blame him. With everyone on the run, food was hard to come by for all six of them, and Steve wasn't about to take any chances, so they've been keeping watches while they slept. They were going pretty strong, but it was all pretty tiring nonetheless.

"Don't worry, we'll figure something out."

The winter soldier turned his gaze to Steve and smiled.

Just then, Steve heard a window break and something crashing into another room.

"Steve!" he heard Clint's voice calling him.

The two soldiers looked at each other with worried faces before hopping up and rushing over to the commotion.

Only to find the King of Wakanda, all suited up, being helped up by their one and only sharpshooter.

"I'm sorry to have burst in like this, but I think the same reaction would have been warranted by a knock on the door." T'challa took off his mask and gave a half smile.

"Your Highness," Steve greeted with a nod.

"Captain," T'challa returned.

"May I ask why you're here?" Looking at Clint's calm stance and T'challa's composure, he didn't pose a threat, and there weren't any other windows being broken by other people ready to shoot them.

"Of course, yes. I was getting ready for my departure about a week ago, when I got a notification saying that you had helped in the escape of the prisoners held by the US government at the Raft."

Steve glanced to his Avengers, as they all had gathered to see who had crashed in.

"I had a suspicion it was you, Captain."

Steve almost smiled when the Wakandan king referred to him by his title, not too sure if he held it anymore. "Yes, that was me."

"Good. So, a thought occurred to me. Ever since the events at the Vienna Conference, I had been consumed by vengeance; a state I regretted being in. I was isolated and surrounded by sorrow and chaos. I had lost a great deal. So I thought that by eliminating my father's killer I could find peace. But I found that I was wrong, by confronting Colonel Zemo. As you all know, I prevented his death and aided in handing him to the US government for interrogation. But I still feel restlessness within me. Captain, James Barnes is one of your closest and most trusted friends, and I realize that my actions almost tore you of that connection. So, to bring peace to me and to everyone else here as well, I am offering refuge back at my country in Wakanda."

Shock and disbelief hung in the silent air as T'challa finished his little speech.

"A—Are you—really? I mean, we couldn't—" Steve was cut off.

"No, I am sure. Currently you are running from US government officials who most likely wish to do more than just imprison you all. I can offer a sort of safe haven, and political protection from the government."

Steve tried not to make a fool out of himself by gaping for too long. "Your Highness, I mean…wow. Th-thank you, I should say, for your offer." He looked at his teammates and friends, for their thoughts. But as he looked around, he had some troubling thoughts.

Steve almost literally just met Scott. Granted, he learned a lot about him. He has a family, although there are some complications with that. But he had a life here, a life he was trying to rebuild. But to take it all away by going to another country, indefinitely?

Clint also had a family to take care of. He was pulled out of retirement; now he'll have to be relocated? He couldn't speak for him, but if Steve was put in Clint's position, he'd definitely be having second thoughts.

Wanda seemed…hesitant? Regretful? She had almost just come to the US, and now she would have to relocate again.

Steve held his gaze at Bucky. He had been suspecting for a while that Bucky was meaning to tell him something, but he hadn't gotten an opportunity to really sit down and talk. In fact, he was going to before T'challa had jumped in.

"Do you mind if we discuss this for a minute?" Steve asked T'challa.

"Not a problem. I will give you some time. It is quite an offer, I understand." With that, he put his mask back on and exited via the broken window.

The super soldier sighed. "What do you guys think?" he said plainly.

"I'm thinking it might be our best option. It beats this," Scott chimed in first.

"Plus the political protection. I mean, he is the king of Wakanda, and if he's offering a safe haven to us, I say go for it," Clint said.

"But, what about your family?" Steve asked, concerned. "And you, Scott?"

Clint let out a hefty sigh. "Yeah…this whole thing became a lot bigger than I had initially thought. But I made my choice. Laura knows that. And I couldn't go back to the farm, not without risking their safety. I'll…just have to leave her a message before we head out."

Steve was surprised to see Clint's decision was pretty much set, but he also had a fair point.

"I'm pretty much on the same boat," Scott said. "Got a partner and a daughter I'd love to see, but I couldn't risk their safety. Not if I could help it…so I guess Wakanda's the best option right now."

The blonde looked around to the rest of his teammates. "Sam?"

The pilot gave back a knowing smile. "You know I'm already set."

Steve admired his loyalty and dependability. "Wanda?"

"I feel like I had just made a home here…" she started. "But it isn't safe, not when I am feared in the public's eye, and I cannot even return to the Avenger's Facility. Plus I will stick to my decision; I will follow you, Steve."

His heart began to swell with emotion. He was lucky to have such friends.

"Buck?"

Steve could see hesitation. "Can…can I talk to you for a bit? Alone?" the brunette asked.

"Of course," Steve replied, eyebrows knitted in concern. He turned to everyone to excuse the two of them, before they went off into another room.

* * *

"What?"

Steve Rogers could not believe his ears. Did he hear right?

He stared at his one-armed friend incredulously.

"You heard me, Steve…" Bucky said calmly, quietly.

This time, Steve allowed himself to gape. "Y-you want to go back—into cryo? But why?"

"Steve, listen. I know you've been coming after me, searching for me for a long time. But, I can't trust my own mind. I saw the news of Zemo bombing the Conference as me, and even I wasn't sure whether that was me or not. It very well could have been, unless you had shown me that it wasn't. I can't trust my own mind."

"But, Buck, look, we can work this out—"

"Steve, I honestly think right now, until we get on even footing, I think the best option right now is for me to be under."

The blonde soldier looked hard into Bucky's eyes. Bucky returned with a dead serious gaze. He had already made his decision. It was going to happen whether Steve liked it or not.

Bucky had a solid point. If even he can't verify what are his actions and what aren't…He let out a heavy sigh. Steve had almost literally just found his best friend again, and now he was going to be gone again…when would all this end, he thought to himself.

"Alright…but, how would we do that? I'm not sending you back to Siberia." Steve was going to be set on that decision.

"Would the Wakandan king have anything?" Bucky asked out of the blue.

"What?"

"I've done a bit of research. He has vibranium, and some serious tech. Almost enough to compete with Stark. He has to have something."

And here Steve was, thinking this day couldn't go any crazier. But Bucky gave him another dead serious look, and Steve gave in.

He let out what seemed to be the umpteenth sigh for the day. "We should probably go ask the king himself for a solid answer then."

The two got up and went to go find T'challa.

* * *

They had found the king sitting on the roof of the building. After a bit of awkward reintroductions and a lot of explanation, Steve and Bucky found out that T'challa indeed had the materials for Bucky's decision to be possible. And at least they would all be relatively close to each other.

"You're sure about this?" Steve asked one more time.

Bucky nodded solemnly. "I'm sure, Steve."

The blonde nodded, still working on digesting his answer.

"Well, the others have also pretty much agreed to your offer, so I guess I just want to thank you again, truly." Steve offered a hand to shake.

T'challa shook it with pleasant firmness. "Please, it is my pleasure."

With that Steve and Bucky went inside to gather up the rest of the team and to head out with the panther.

* * *

 **A/N: And we pretty much got it from there. This was my insight on Steve's team before they got to Wakanda, and sort of how they got there too. Hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review!**


	12. A Visit

**Hey guys, long time no update, I know. It's been a little dry in my pool of inspiration, but after seeing the Spiderman trailer, I'll have more updates soon, be on the lookout!**

 **But for now, this is one I started before I got a butt-ton of work for school, and I've managed to finish it. Let me know what you guys think!**

* * *

The sun's rays were sharp against his eyes when he stepped out of the building. Its warmth and brightness should have been pleasant against his skin. Or better yet, he could have been out with the sun as it rose into the sky as he comfortably let his feet carry him around the complex at a comfortable jogger's pace.

But not today.

Instead, today Sam Wilson had stayed in his bed in a melancholic state, wondering what was wrong as he stared, first at the ceiling, then into his phone, then at his floor and at his shoes.

He should have gotten up, like any old morning.

But not today.

His mind that morning was sluggish, thoughts leading him nowhere. It wasn't until later, when the sun had already greeted upstate New York, that Sam slowly started to piece together what he was feeling.

Then he thought that maybe today was a day to visit Riley.

Sam made his way over to one of the other warehouses that held casual cars. Any other day he'd love to drive something that would make heads turn, but not today.

He logged in and borrowed the keys to a clean grey sedan, turned the engine on, and started to drive north. It was probably going to take the whole weekend for him. It was a bit of a drive to DC. But he was currently on a very temporary leave, and he made sure to make note of where he was to the rest of the team members who were in the complex. Besides, what was three days?

Getting comfortable, Sam rolled the windows down and let the cool morning air comfort him as he drove, an elbow perched out the car window.

When he arrived at the cemetery, he mindlessly parked his car, got out, and instinctively locked it twice, just to make sure. He wanted to break the quiet in his head, wanted some stream of thought, but today, his mind was numb.

His feet already on the familiar path to Riley, he continued to search for trains of thought. But by the time his feet were firmly planted in front of the familiar tombstone, he had still found nothing.

He felt the sun's rays warm his back, the cool air holding hints of winter's chill. His eyes were staring at the tombstone, but he was focused elsewhere.

Sam stood there for a while, time idly ticking by. The gusts of wind came and went, almost encouraging him to move. But finally, after a stretched period of silence, Sam broke it.

"I think something bad's gonna happen."

"You got everything packed?"

Sam jolted from his stupor at Steve's words. He came back to the chilled air inside the abandoned warehouse and the cold walls that temporarily housed them.

"Y-Yeah," the pilot stammered, rubbing his arms to generate some warmth.

The super soldier softly clapped his shoulder. "Good, good. T'Challa's coming later tonight in the earlier hours, so we should make preparations now."

Still recovering from being zoned out, Sam looked out the window high above the two of them. The sun was setting behind some gloomy clouds, only adding to the chilled interior.

After a bit of silence, Steve motioned to get up, presumably to check on everyone else. But Sam caught him before the blonde could rise.

"Actually, I'm gonna be out for a couple of hours. There was something I forgot to check up on," the winged soldier said vaguely.

"Uh…yeah, yeah go for it. Whatever you need. Just be sure to be back as soon as it gets dark," Steve stammered, wanting to give his newfound friend some time before they were headed overseas.

"Thanks, man," Sam nodded before grabbing his wallet and phone to head out.

Sam took the public transportation (since, unlike his last visit, he did not have a car at his disposal) first to an old diner he used to go to a lot before Afghanistan. He nodded with a smile to the waitress, who was already scribbling down his usual order. He thanked her, then sat and waited with a cup of coffee.

The sun was just beginning to follow its path down as Sam approached the familiar tombstone. His eyes bore into Riley's name that was carved into it, along with the all-too-familiar date that signified his last day.

He sat down and pulled out his chicken and biscuits while setting Riley's usual order of pancakes, hash browns, and bacon on his grave. It was pretty much routine. But today would be the last day to come back for a long time.

Sam thought he'd be quiet, calm, and introspective while he was here. But as soon as he took a bite from his food, he started to chat. He was glad no one was there, because he would have probably looked pretty crazy. But memories started to come back into his head, and he reminisced out loud to Riley all of their shenanigans. The time they swapped out the sugar for salt, which was right by the coffee machine. The time when the two of them almost missed their flight out because of a fun night with two girls. The time when they first flew the suits together.

An hour passed. Wrappers and plastic containers were put back into the plastic bag to be easily disposed of. Riley's food was, of course, untouched. The wind blew as the sun steadily went about its journey.

"…I'm gonna be headed off," Sam said after a long pause of silence. "Got into some trouble, bit of a civil war really. But I'll be back, like always. This won't be for long. Just temporary, until things cool down." As he said those words, it almost sounded like he was convincing himself really, then simply telling Riley.

After another minute, he hoisted himself up, dusting off his pants and grabbing his trash. "Anyway, gotta go. The captain said I should be back before dark, and he's right. Gotta catch the bus back for that." He went up and pat the tombstone, as if he would have pat his shoulder. "See you soon."

With that, Sam turned around and began his walk back to the bus stop.

* * *

 **Hope you guys enjoyed, let me know! And don't forget to like and follow for updates! Thanks for reading.**


	13. Growing Pains, Part 1

**Hey guys!**

 **I want to start off with an apology for me being MIA, and a big thank you for those of you who stuck around. A lot's been happening, both with my creativity and with my personal life. I really wanted to try and post this before Spiderman: Homecoming came out (brilliant movie, go watch if you haven't!), but the stars weren't aligned for it to happen.**

 **These next couple of chapters are inspired by a request from the user empty to be deleted, so thank you for that! The request asked to deal with "the less savory side effects of Pietro's superspeed like terrible attention span, what happens when he doesn't eat enough, energy deprivation", so I kind of wrapped that all up and decided to look at Pietro dealing with some factors of ADHD. Now, as someone who does not have ADHD, I really tried my best to do the research and portray him to the best of my abilities. That being said, if something seems wrong or off, please don't hesitate to let me know. Any and all sorts of constructive criticism is welcomed.**

 **And as always, I'm accepting requests, so please, don't forget to favorite and review, and leave any ideas for me to play with!**

* * *

 **Note:** this will be after AoU, but before CW. Thor and Bruce are gone, but Tony and the gang are still here. Spiderman and Ant-Man are not yet with us, but Clint is officially retired.

* * *

"Capsicle," Tony called out, knocking on the super soldier's open door. "Did you get the briefing memo?" The playboy shook his smartphone in his hand, screen glowing green with a notification of an assignment brief happening soon.

"Yep, coming, Tony," Steve replied, bitterly grinning at the nickname Tony used. Grabbing his smartphone as well, he got up from his bed and walked out the door. "Couldn't drop the nickname? That seems like forever ago now, Tony."

"Hey, old habits die hard. FRIDAY has a conference room set up in the right wing, by the way," Tony informed as they walked in that direction. "We can discuss the details there."

Steve simply shook his head and chuckled.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, after their discussion and review of the new data that FRIDAY had retrieved, the duo exited the conference room, each in their own thoughts. Tony, ever since creating the Avengers Tower, which moved to become the Avengers Facilities (outside of the city of Manhattan), had always had his AI running background projects. Whether it was tracking the location of Loki's scepter, looking into SHIELD, or discovering any and all Hydra bases that were the cause of terrorist attacks, he had one running. After all, the genius could keep tabs in his brain open, so why not his trusty helper too? After JARVIS had been permanently relocated into the new Avengers member, Vision, he gave FRIDAY the same standards. This time, they had located a major Hydra base that was the connection for several others that were the cause of terrorist attacks within South America, specifically around the border of Bolivia and Peru.

After reviewing the data, they had decided that it seemed pretty straightforward, albeit not easy. They'd start with seeing that the main base for the network, located in Bolivia, cutting off major networks within the rest of the bases. From there, they'd break off into two teams to divide and conquer.

"I'll start grabbing Sam, Natasha, and the twins, do you want to notify Rhodes and Vision?" Steve asked.

"The twins? Do you really think Mr. Speedy Gonzales is combat ready?" Tony returned, subtly raising an eyebrow at him.

"We've gone through several training courses - he's a bit rough, don't get me wrong, but besides being a little bit sidetracked at times, he responded well and got the objectives of the courses done."

"A little sidetracked? I upgraded him and Wanda with new gear, and that was all he could talk about! I know communication is an important thing when we're out in the field, but gimme a break, the guy was about to go nuts. Rhodey had to finally cut him off so we could focus," Tony reminded.

"But we got the details back from all of them - no one would have been majorly injured, and we almost finished them in record time with his speed," Steve rebutted.

"God, don't even remind me of his speed," the billionaire muttered under his breath.

"Besides, you remember the last time we had to leave him to 'house-sit' the Facility? He went crazy, and not to mention what half the place looked like."

Tony mulled it over. It wasn't sitting well with him. Something just felt wrong, in his gut. He couldn't explain it, which was quite a rare thing, being the person he is.

"Come on, Tony, FRIDAY can well look after the entire Facility on her own. Let him go back onto the field, he's an Avenger like the rest of us," Steve interrupted, concluding their debate.

"Fine," he said, giving in. Tony gave one last nod before heading to Rhodey's room.

Steve sighed before turning a corner to get to Sam's room.

Pietro's last battle had been with the original team of Avengers back in Sokovia. It's been some time since then, and it was honestly a gamble. Having the swift recruit on the team roster would be a great asset to the Avengers. But, this mission could also send him back to Dr. Cho, where he would have to be hospitalized, possibly indefinitely, like after Sokovia. Despite the doctor's keen watch over the Sokovian, and with Vision and FRIDAY subtly checking his vitals periodically, she had advised to not strain him too soon, and for too long. Tony and Steve had agreed and planned out a schedule of gradual entry to the team, and to the battlefield, which would start out with personal training, and go on to eventually him joining the team. This assignment was technically his last step before Pietro would join his sister onto the team.

Trying to ignore any minor regrets, Steve knocked on Sam's door. The pilot opened the door, but didn't get a chance to greet the captain, as he was promptly told to "Suit up."

* * *

" _Finally_ ," Pietro blurted out once the Captain had come by to tell them to suit up. He jumped out of his bed and immediately began to strip to put on the new gear that Mr. Stark had given him. The team finally felt like he was ready to be back on the field again, after all those endless simulations.

" _Just don't get too ahead of yourself, you know the simulations are just that, simulations,_ " Wanda reminded, betraying a slight smile after seeing her brother so excited.

" _I thought that the Captain would never let me get on the field. Besides, it would be a waste to not be able to use the new stuff Mr. Stark gave us. I mean, really, I feel like a new person with these on almost! And the shoes-_ "

" _Pietro, come on, we have to get going,_ " Wanda reminded, cutting him off. " _We're meeting ASAP._ "

" _Oh, right,_ " Pietro muttered apologetically. " _So, to the hangar, right? That's where you guys usually go._ "

" _Yes, the Captain and Stark will brief us there_ ," Wanda confirmed. After grabbing the last of her things, the two of them quickly made their way there.

* * *

The mechanic drone of the quinjet filled each of the Avengers' thoughts as they listened in on the mission brief.

"Hydra has a connection of bases located in both Bolivia and Peru. Our goal as one team is to take down the main base that connects the rest of them in Bolivia. It's located in the Andes Mountain range, right along the border of Bolivia and Peru." Here, Steve pointed to the projected map in front of him, specifying the coordinates of the main base for everyone to see. "This base is a major connection point for the other four bases surrounding it." With that, the blonde drew points for the four other bases as well. "Immediately after we take down the main one, we divide into two teams to take down the rest of the satellite bases. Simple, but not easy."

They had all agreed with the Captain's sentiment. Tony, who was staring at the "JARVIS is my co-pilot" sticker (which he almost debated on removing), tried to be optimistic about the mission's outcome. They'd succeed, they always did. Of course, every mission creates its own bumps in the road, but they usually got over those pretty quickly. They could do the same here.

Pietro was humming with excitement. He could really see himself interacting with the team and helping everyone achieve success in the mission. He was so excited! He began to imagine himself zipping through the battle scene, coming from the enemy's blindside to defeat them, and looking cool as hell. And plus, he and Wanda knew how Hydra members functioned, so he-

 _Pietro_ , Wanda probed in his mind.

The excited team member halted his thoughts. _Oh, what?_

 _Stop shaking your leg, you'll create a hole in the quinjet,_ she warned.

He consciously stopped his foot then, not realizing that he was shaking his leg in anticipation. Looking around, Sam and Rhodey were staring at him, both asking "are you good?" with their eyes. Clearing his throat, he merely nodded and tried to stay still.

"So, Captain, what's the specific lineup for the two teams after we complete the first part?" Natasha asked, as they hadn't been informed of that yet.

"Right, so the lineups will be as follows. Sam, Natasha, and Vision, you guys are with me," Steve started.

"Leaving Rhodey, Wanda, and Pietro with me," Tony finished, giving a tight grin. The Stark genius had almost been appalled when Steve suggested the twins be on his team, but Steve had argued against him, saying that their combos were better for a team, and an even split between covering the skies and ground was favorable. Tony had argued, saying that he would probably work better with Natasha and Vision than with the twins, but Steve had said that their simulations and training sessions weren't drastically different from Tony and Rhodey pairing with the twins. So, Tony decided to bite his tongue and let the Captain lead.

 _We'll see how this goes,_ Tony thought bitterly.

* * *

Natasha's earpiece buzzed with Steve's voice. "Checking in. Is everyone in position?"

"Roger," Tony checked in, followed by the rest of the team's voices. Natasha confirmed her position and waited for the signal.

"Alright," Steve said after a moment of silence. "Let's move in."

With that, Natasha stealthily moved through the mountainous landscape. To her far left were the twins, who would help her take down the ground security, along with Cap, who was farther off to her right. This left Tony, Sam, Rhodey, and Vision to scoping out the base from the air, while possibly taking down more of the security forces, and providing distractions. Well, that last bit was mostly Tony.

"From what we can detect," Vision chimed in, "there are four security bunkers, each armed. Wanda and Pietro, you are heading up on two, and Natasha and Steve are each coming on the flank of a third-"

"I got it!" Pietro's enthusiastic voice cut off the android.

"Wait, Piet-" But Wanda was left behind as her brother stormed ahead.

"Pietro, fall back, we need to do this as a team. This is a major Hydra base, we can't just go storming in one by one," Steve tried to explain calmly, while his thoughts of doubt that he had been trying to dismiss earlier were resurfacing.

"But I can get these! And maybe even swing around to the other two. Look, I just took out the majority of the men on foot, and-"

"Pietro, _listen to the Captain and get back here. This isn't just us anymore back in Sokovia, this is us as the Avengers. We need to cooperate as a team, like our practices back home. Come on!_ " Wanda scolded in Sokovian.

" _But sis, I just took out the first bunker, we can easily cover the rest and let them focus on the inside-_ "

" _No, Pietro, we need you to be a team member, like how Steve has been saying all along. Now come back!_ "

The rest of the team were quiet as the two argued in their native tongue. They all saw that Wanda convinced Pietro to fall back, and was relieved.

"Alright, we'll have to recalculate our plans for a bit. Everyone, take cover if you need to," Steve said through their ear pieces, running behind a tree just in time to dodge a stream of bullets. "Thanks to Pietro, we've lost our element of surprise. If the team in the air could send two members to take down the weapons from above, we can go ahead and take care of the rest. Wanda and Pietro, take down the two in your direction. Nat, we'll take the two on our sides."

"Roger," Nat and Wanda confirmed.

"Steve, Sam and I can come in and disable the big weaponry," Rhodey said.

"Good, whenever you're ready," Steve replied while signaling to Nat to wait for their entry.

 _We're going to talk when we get back,_ Wanda warned telepathically.

"Tony and Rhodey, how is the extraction going?" Steve asked between knocking out two more Hydra soldiers. They had now progressed into the base, and had made a clear path for Tony and Rhodey to go and salvage as much information held on the base's computer systems as possible. The rest of the team's job at the moment was to take down Hydra members and try to find the Hydra officials in charge of the place to bring for questioning.

"Cap, it's been going at the same rate as when you asked five minutes ago," Tony snapped, busily typing while checking all the monitors. "It's passed 75% so I'll let you know when we're done."

"Steve, I have eyes on the higher-ups," Natasha murmured into her earpiece, obvious she was trying to keep as quiet as possible.

"Good, where are they?"

"They're going into another room, really would appreciate it if they'd keep still."

"Here, I'll send the twins your way, round 'em up." With that, Steve nodded at the twins, who he was fighting alongside. Pietro grinned, picked up Wanda, and zoomed off to find Natasha.

"Don't worry, Captain, we'll get them," Pietro reassured.

"Remember, you three are not to engage with them, but to just corner them, understand?" Steve asked, mostly asking to make sure that Pietro wouldn't go off to do his own thing again.

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Pietro reassured.

"We understand, Steve," Wanda backed.

"Cap, your left!" Sam shouted, not through the earpiece, thankfully. Steve rolled out of the way as a reaction, dodging Sam's attack to the two Hydra goons who almost got him in his distraction.

"Thanks," Steve muttered.

"Hey, no big deal, I'm just happy I got to finally say on _your_ left," Sam grinned. Steve couldn't help but let out a crooked grin, nudging his friend on the shoulder.

"Alright, hit a minor bump in the road, but we've extracted everything. Let's bounce, Rhodey," Tony's voice rang in through their earpieces.

"Great timing," Steve complimented. "Nat, you can move in and grab the officials."

"Yeah, about that," Natasha winced.

"What's wrong?"

"Twins were a little late," she explained briefly. "May have a couple of casualty."

"Are you ok?" Steve asked as he and Sam ran to her position.

"I'm fine, but one of the higher-ups may not be."

Trying to keep panic from overwhelming him, Steve merely said that they would be there soon and hurried his pace.

* * *

The quinjet soared over the Bolivian landscape as it hurried to deliver the minds of Hydra behind the Bolivian base. One was nearly critically injured, which was not part of the plan.

Steve learned that Pietro had been sidetracked when heading to Natasha's location, and because of it, Natasha had to be creative in trying to detain them in a room without having them escape (involving some interesting uses of a Widow's Bite). This, however, backfired when Pietro nearly ran into her makeshift trap, which ended up with him getting hurt by a Widow's Bite and causing the Hydra leaders to fire at him. Wanda had blocked the bullets just in time, but not before having one ricochet off her force field and into the leg of one of them. While Steve wasn't terribly explicit about wanting the Hydra men mostly unharmed, he thought it made sense to not injure them critically, as they were needed for questioning. Now, they were in a battle with time to get the officials off their hands and to the Bolivian government and medical facilities. Tony had already buzzed in, telling them of their incoming delivery.

Steve didn't know what to do. At this point, he couldn't just send Pietro back. They were to head off in their teams to complete the rest of the mission, stopping for a night together to rest before heading off. What was Tony going to say? He gripped the bridge of his nose tighter.

"Hey," came a short greeting. _Speak of the devil..._ thought Steve.

"Hey," the blonde returned, knowing what was coming.

"So...do I even have to say anything?" Tony asked bluntly.

"Look, I know what you're about to say," Steve said, trying to cut him off from complaining.

"Oh, good, so I won't be wasting words," Tony merely retorted.

Trying not to narrow his eyes at him, Steve held back a huff and continued. "I think you should go and talk to him. This obviously wasn't his A game."

"Talk to him? I was thinking a little more than just talking."

"And do what? Turn back the jet? To deliver him back to New York? Tony, we don't have the time. We have to get going at the break of dawn the next morning."

"Rogers, I know, I know. But what are our options? If he couldn't get it together with the full team, how am I supposed to trust him within my subunit?"

"Tony," Steve sighed, trying to keep a level tone. "Just, please, try to talk to him. This is his first mission outside of the facility in a while, and I'm sure it can be overwhelming."

It was Tony's turn to huff. Thirty seconds passed as he mulled it over in his head. "Fine. You're right, we don't have the time. I'll see what I can do." And with that, the self-proclaimed philanthropist left.

Steve took a moment, looking upwards to think. Was this a good idea? God, he hoped so.

* * *

Tony took his time on his way to talk to Pietro. He was trying, he really was. Trying to be optimistic, supportive, just different from the Tony who just dished out weapons for anyone who had the cash. His opinions of the twins had changed especially when he had heard their story from Vision. After all these years, his past self was still causing damage.

Pausing to lean against the metal walls of the quinjet, the billionaire sighed. He needed to do better. He had thought with his removing his good ol' arc reactor, with supporting the Avengers (meaning cooperating with his number one competition for his dad's attention), and with his remade Iron Man suits after the Clean Slate protocol, he was slowly starting to change. But, evidently with Pepper leaving, and now his discovery of his personal impact with the Maximoff twins, it appeared that wasn't the case.

He clenched his fist, aggravated. Was this going to happen every time he wanted to change?

Tony let himself brood for a short minute before gathering himself up. He was going to sit down and talk with Pietro. Cap was right in that aspect - only way he was going to get the speedster to focus and trust him was if they actually had a good conversation.

And with that set in his mind, he went off to find said twin.

* * *

"Hey there, Roadrunner," Tony cheerfully greeted.

Pietro swung his head back to see Stark. Surprised, he let a "hello" stutter out. Wanda nodded and cordially greeted him.

"Mind if I step in and have a little chat with you?" the engineering genius asked.

Confused as to what this would be, Pietro looked back at Wanda.

 _What do you think this could be?_ Wanda asked telepathically.

 _I don't know...the mission?_ Pietro guessed.

 _That's possible, you didn't exactly perform as well. And we are on Stark's team for the second phase of it,_ Wanda replied.

 _Great,_ Pietro grumbled, letting a small curse slip in Sokovian. He stood up and turned to face Mr. Stark.

"Sure, what's up?" he said in a somewhat bored tone.

"Here, let's go this way," Tony directed, letting the younger Avenger go first.

They silently wandered together for a brief moment before Tony started to speak. "Look, Pietro, I'm just gonna get straight to the point. Today wasn't your best and-"

"Mr. Stark, I know, I know," Pietro interjected. "Look, I was just a little distracted, I'm sure it happens-"

"No, being a little distracted is you not realizing that someone behind you wants to punch your guts out. You, instead, were distracted to the point where you forgot to go back up Natasha, and as a result, not only did you get hurt, but so did one of our key suspects who we're turning over for interrogation. You have to realize that your actions here come with consequences, some good, some bad. You can't just go off to do your own thing when we're all here. The only person who can do that is Bruce Banner, and he is MIA."

Pietro bit back a groan, leaning against a wall. He wasn't here to be babied, so what the hell was Stark doing. "Look, Mr. Stark-"

"Just Tony's good, not trying to be my dad here," Tony couldn't help but interrupt.

"Whatever, look, I know. I screwed up. But it was one time, I'll be fine to finish the rest of the mission."

"Are you sure? Because we can't have something like this happen again. We need your absolute focus on this. So, what I want to ask is...are you ok?"

"What?" Pietro blurted, thrown off.

"Are you feeling ok? Like, anxious at all, or something?" Tony gently probed.

"...Why are you asking me this?"

Tony let out a sigh before continuing. "Look, kid, I'm just gonna lay myself out on the table and say that I...haven't been doing so well lately. Got a little bit of issues, but I'm sorting them out. And I've heard your story from Vision, Wanda's too. Going from an ordinary kid to someone who can catch a bullet isn't just a simple switch. And I know part of that reason is me, and I'm trying to make a change for the better. Trying being the key word. So I want to help you, and I want to make our little team as kickass as possible. We each have our own share of issues, but it doesn't mean we can't get the job done at the end of the day. So, what I'm trying to say is that if you need help, just come to any one of us. I'm sure Cap or Sam or even Rhodey would love to chat, me included."

Pietro stood there, shocked. This out of all the things in the world was not what he was expecting to hear from Tony Stark. The seemingly bulletproof man, always perfect, shattering that imagery of him. What was this crazy world he was living in?

"Hey, speedster...you doin' ok there?" Tony asked, bringing him back out of his daze. The engineer gestured to his hand, which was tapping on his leg at a million miles per hour. Catching himself, Pietro grabbed his hand to make it stop, but not before he felt his leg starting to fidget.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I, uh...I'll let you know if things pop up," he replied.

Tony let himself stare at the Sokovian for just a moment longer before letting it go. "Alright, then." He went over to give the Maximoff a pat on the shoulder. "Good talk," he said succinctly before heading off.

Pietro watched the man walk over to who knows where, still dazed. _To think a day would come where I wouldn't hate Stark's guts,_ he thought to himself. Maybe he had been right. He needed to get a grip.

 _Pietro_ , Wanda called through his mind. _Might want to grab some food before we bunker down for the night._

At the mention of food, the blonde zipped off, having forgotten how hungry he was.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap. Thanks again for reading, I'd love to hear you guys on what you think, so please leave a review! Watch out for the second half of this, coming up!**


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